Liam Pitchford pulled off one of the wins of his career as he beat World Number 9 Vladimir Samsonov 3-2 in England’s opening 3-1 defeat to Belarus at the INTERSPORT European Championships in Gdansk-Sopot, Poland.

Pitchford ranked a full 260 places below Samsonov came through a terrific battle to win in spectacular fashion.

His victory was almost followed up by a Paul Drinkhall win against Evgueni Chtchetinine but England’s number one was edged out in a close encounter.

Daniel Reed then lost a tight game before Samsonov took his revenge on Drinkhall as Belarus sealed the tie 3-1.

In the women’s group, England started brilliantly with a 3-0 victory over Azerbaijan.

Joanna Parker, Kelly Sibley and Emily Bates all won to give England the perfect start.

Both team’s next ties are tomorrow morning which you can keep up with online.

Dont forget our competition that’s running with Vinqui where you can win table tennis jewellery simply by predicting the correct England score on our Facebook page.

Men’s:

Belarus 3-1 England

Pitchford bt Samsonov 3-2 (11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7)

Chtchetinine bt Drinkhall 3-1 (4-11, 13-11, 13-11, 11-6)

Platonov bt Reed 3-1 (8-11, 15-13, 11-9, 11-4)

Samsonov bt Drinkhall 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-6)

Women’s:

England 3-0 Azerbaijan

Parker bt Guliyeva 3-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 11-5)

Sibley bt Eminova 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7)

Bates bt Ahmadova 3-2 (11-7, 6-11, 11-13, 11-1, 11-4)