Last season Abbie Milwain was an up and coming youngster, winning the Band 1 Women’s title on the Grand Prix circuit.

This season she has kicked on again, winning one GP title – in Liverpool – and finishing well in the other two, including runner-up at the last event in South Shields. And she is in action again in Bristol this weekend.

“I’ve been playing well in the GPS I’ve done so far, so I am looking forward to going,” said the 20-year-old Derbyshire player.

“I know lots of people are entering, so the standard will be very high, but I am happy with how I am playing in training at the moment – but a lot of it will be down to how I play on the day.

“I know a lot of top players are entering like Emma (Vickers), Karina (Le Fevre) and more.

“Getting to play them is always good as you can test yourself against the higher ranked players, and if I play well there’s always a chance of a good win.”

Milwain has risen to eighth place in the senior English women ranking, two places higher than at the start of the GPs back in August. So she is in a great position to improve her rankings further with another good performance at a venue where she enjoys playing.

“I have played Bristol GP quite a few times,” she said. “Last year I won band 1 there. I like the conditions and they’re fairly similar to where I train in Derby.”

When asked which match she was most looking forward to seeing, if she could put any two players together, the answer was easy.

“I would say Ryan Jenkins and Chris Doran,” she said. “Chris is at the top of this year’s GP standings and Ryan won last year, so it would be interesting to see who would win.”

Milwain is currently in her third and final year at Keele University, where she is studying physiotherapy, but still has a lot to look forward to this year.

“I will also be playing at the Nottingham GP (Dec 6/7), which is very near to home so should be good,” she said. “Then Senior British League Division 1, which is a really good standard and I get to play the men, which is always different to playing women!”

Mark Tanner
November 12, 2014