All players will have the opportunity to compete at next year’s PG Mutual Senior National Championships, with a new qualifying tournament set to be played in early 2019.

The weekend of January 19-20, 2019 has been set aside for the tournament, which any Table Tennis England member who holds a Player Licence will be able to enter.

Full details of the event, including format, venue, cost and the number of Nationals places up for grabs, will be released by the end of June.

Table Tennis England Director of Sport Simon Mills said: “The Nationals is our pinnacle domestically and therefore should have the best players competing.

“This tournament will provide a pathway to the pinnacle event for those who are good enough but who don’t compete in enough ranking events to be able to qualifying through the rankings.”