Four young England stars are relishing the chance to test themselves on home soil against the best in Europe.

Tom Jarvis, Denise Payet, Ethan Walsh and Charlotte Bardsley will go head-to-head with many of the continent’s rising stars at the Europe Youth Top 10.

The event, hosted by Table Tennis England, begins at the Worcester Arena on Friday and although some of the players to qualify declined the invitation – notably most of a sizeable Russian contingent – the quality of the field is exceptional.

Tickets are still on sale for the event and will also be available on the door – click here to buy tickets online.

There are four competitions as Juniors and Cadets, boys and girls, will play against all the other competitors on a round-robin basis across three days.

Jarvis is the highest-ranked English player in the event having originally qualified at No 7, but is now ranked at No 5 in a Junior Boys’ field headed by Romania’s Cristian Pletea, who beat Jarvis in the quarter-finals of the European Youth Championships earlier this year.

Jarvis said:

It’s the most prestigious European tournament there is for my age group. It will be nice to play in England with a home crowd and hopefully that will help me play better.

I’ll be trying to follow on from a good European Youths and it would be good to get revenge over Pletea – but all the players there are good players.

Bardsley was close to qualifying by rights, but withdrawals mean she has been elevated from just outside the top 10 to No 9 seed in the Cadet Girls’ section.

Bardsley, who lives just a few miles from Worcester and goes to school in the county, said:

I’m really excited for the competition. It’s a great opportunity and I think I’ve got a good chance.

I was 15th in the rankings so it shows I’m there or thereabouts and hopefully I can prove something.

It’s great that it’s in England because you’ve got all the support behind you and it’s in my home city, so it will be great if I can do well.

Payet and Walsh have host nation places in the Junior Girls and Cadet Boys respectively and are also keen to get started.

Payet said:

I’m really looking forward to it, it’s going to be a great event. I can’t wait to show what I can do.

It will be a really big challenge but I’ll be able to see how challenging the standard is and hopefully it will help me to become better.

Walsh said:

I’m really looking forward to it. I feel really privileged and happy to represent my country and I feel like this is a good chance for me to prove myself.

I feel good about facing the top players because I don’t have any pressure on me at all and I can go out there and play my own game and relax.

I think at first I’ll be quite nervous but I think it will be all right and will actually help me having the support of the home crowd.

The order of play will be released during the practice day on Thursday. The event is due to start with the Cadet Girls’ section at 10am on Friday.

The final list of competitors is:

Junior Boys
Cristian Pletea (ROU), Ioannis Sgouropoulos (GRE), Rares Sipos (ROU), Irvin Bertrand (FRA), Tom Jarvis (ENG), Tobias Hippler (GER), Florian Cnudde (BEL), Gerrit Engemann (GER), Bastien Rembert (FRA), Matteo Mutti (ITA)

Junior Girls
Adina Diaconu (ROU), Andreea Dragoman (ROU), Izabela Lupulesku (SRB), Lisa Lung (BEL), Anastasia Kolish (RUS), Zhang Xuan (ESP), Luisa Saeger (GER), Tania Plaian (ROU), Jennie Wolf (GER), Denise Payet (ENG)

Cadet Boys
Bilal Hamache (FRA), Kay Stumper (GER), Csaba Andras (HUN), Dorian Zheng (FRA), Samuel Kulczycki (POL), Olav Kosolosky (BEL), Martin Friis (SWE), Daniel Rinderer (GER), Jules Cavaille (FRA), Ethan Walsh (ENG)

Cadet Girls
Elena Zaharia (ROU), Jamila Laurenti (ITA), Camille Lutz (FRA), Sophia Klee (GER, Isa Cok (FRA), Wenna Tu (GER), Ozge Yilmaz (TUR), Anastasia Bondareva (GER), Charlotte Bardsley (ENG), Lou Frete (FRA)