Joshua Reynolds is ready to take his umpiring career to the next stage after officiating at the Austrian Open.

The 22-year-old Halifax umpire was one of a group of young officials to be chosen to add to their experience by taking charge of high-profile matches at a major World Tour event.

Among the matches he was involved with was the Women’s Singles final, shown live on Austrian TV, for which he was assistant umpire.

“The experience was new to me as I have only ever umpired in England and at an invitational event, so the number of matches with high quality players was a big change to what I am used to,” said Joshua.

“Umpiring at this event has shown me that this is something that I would like to be doing for the considerable future and hopefully I will progress to Blue Badge.

“It is also pleasing for me to be umpiring at an event with five umpires under 26 and all of us being involved in high-profile matches.

“It was also good to see that at the School Games last week, there were several young officials involved as they are the future.”

The group of young officials also included Austria’s Maximilian Nitz, aged 26, and Martin Mayerhofer, aged 20, plus Poland’s Rafal Zlezarczyk and Singapore’s Wong Hoi Shek.

And they all impressed Werner Thury, the referee on duty in Wels.
“It makes me happy to see these young umpires working. They are performing in an excellent and really professional way,” said Thury.

“It shows that the approach of the International Table Tennis Federation to support and attract young umpires is on track and the right one – not only young players must be given a chance to perform at ITTF World Tour events but also young umpires.”