An England Youth Squad of 19 has been named for the 2017/18 season, with four players in the set-up for the first time.

Megan Gidney and Samuel Kwan are new in the Junior ranks, while Cadets Anaya Patel and Louis Price are also selected for the first time. Charlotte Bardsley, who was not in the squad last season, returns.

The rest of the squad, which in total comprises 11 Juniors and eight Cadets, were all in the EYS ranks last season, and in most cases for longer.

The players were selected following the annual assessments held this summer and will participate in regular training camps as well as working on individual training and fitness programmes and receiving personal input from national coaches between camps.

National Youth Coach Matt Stanforth said:

The selections for this year’s England Youth Squad have been even more difficult than ever and we continue to raise the standards of what is expected from the players in order to give them the best possibility of reaching their potential in the future.

In an exciting change from previous years, each player will develop a periodised programme that is suitable for their stage of development to ensure they have a better opportunity to learn and grow not only as table tennis players but also as people.

The programme will not only give them the opportunity to train together but also to train abroad, have access to specialist Strength & Conditioning on camp, and have an international competition programme to support their needs.

The ultimate aim is to help each member of the squad to learn and develop their ‘player, athlete and competitor’ abilities that they need in order to find out what they are capable of in the future.

Squad

Juniors: Charlotte Bardsley, Reece Chamdal, Sam Chesterman, Joe Clark, Joe Cope, Megan Gidney, Sam Kwan, Denise Payet, Shayan Siraj, James Smith, Ethan Walsh

Cadets: Ruby Chan, Amirul Hussain, Jamie Liu, Anaya Patel, Louis Price, Darcie Proud, Josh Weatherby, Jasmin Wong