Table Tennis Wales 2018 in Review Welsh Players have been busy in 2018 around the UK, Europe and the World competing and winning at many competitions. We thank those players, the clubs, the parents and all coaches who all contribute to Welsh Table Tennis success. See you in 2019!!! January St Mellons edge out Rhondda (Premier Division) with the closest of margins at the Senior TCW in Cardiff. Other division winners were Cardiff League A (Div 1), Blaenavon A (Div 2), Carmarthen B (Div 3), Caerphilly (Div 4) and North Gwent B (Div 5) New Table Tennis Website Launches Yameen Al-Dahiri (Junior Boys) and Ben Moore (Cadet Boys) are winners at the North Wales Open held in Trefnant Charlotte Carey competed at the ITTF Hungarian Open Benedict Watson, Callum Pascoe, Evan Williams, Jordan Price and Seren Jones were winners at the Dragon competition Charlotte Carey, Chloe Thomas, Anna Hursey & Josh Stacey were selected for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast by Team Wales JLTT (Joseph Roberts & Louie Evans) won the Welsh cadet Team Challenge in Cardiff Anna Hursey won the U13 & U18 titles at the East Midlands 4* Open Numerous Welsh ladies compete at 2 nd weekend of WBL Our Chair Bernie Carter passed away
February Josh Stacey won the Junior Blackpool 4* Open Table Tennis Wales gets a new Logo created by Grafico Anna Hursey participates at the ITTF Czech Youth Open Brynawel School (Sasha Lewis & Jordan Price) won the National Primary Schools Championships in Cardiff Eastern Valley took both divisions at the 2 nd Vets TCW weekend Beth Roberts & Dean Cundy won the mixed doubles at the West of Scotland Open in Glasgow. Beth was R/up in the women s singles Benedict Watson, Evan Williams, Piotr Wlodarczky, Toby Harwood and Jayden Meadows were winners at the Dragon Series Evan Williams, Ruby Elliott, Anna Hursey, Joseph Roberts and Benedict Watson were winners at the Newport Open Ranking event at the Velodrome March Due to snow, the National Championships were cancelled Grace Clement, Benedict Watson, Ruby Elliott, Evan O Connor and Louie Evans were winners at the St Mellons Open Chloe Thomas competed at the ITTF German Open in Bremen Welsh team drives to Plymouth for friendly match ready for the International Primary Championships in April The Commonwealth Squad travelled to Grenzau for a pre Games camp Yameen Al-Dahiri won the Blackpool 2* Junior Open At the Italian Para Open, Tom Mathews won Gold (Class 1), Paul Karabardak Silver (Class 6) and Josh Stacey Bronze (Class 9) Dean Cundy, Ruby Elliott, Jack Palfrey and Harri Palfrey were winners at the March Dragon series Kate Roberts won the Band 1 at the Cleveland Grand Prix
April Josh Stacey won Bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. The women s team finished joint 5 th place in the team event Ruby Elliott wins Gold at the International Primary Schools Championships in Largs. Girls team win Bronze. Lydia John, Benedict Watson, Beth Richards, Yameen Al-Dahiri and Lara Whitton headed to Metz for the ITTF French Youth Open Anna Hursey is filmed by Transworld Sport for a documentary A very successful Welsh Vets Open was staged in Cardiff. Regina Grech, Glyn Kellow, Paul Collings, John Hook, Gareth Dommett and Geoff Strangeway among the winners Lara Whitton (Chandler s 2* Open) and Ben Allen (Hereford Open) both complete Doubles in Cadet & Junior events Jamie-Lee Harley, Joseph Roberts, Giovanni LeBorgne, Lauren Stacey and Evan O Connor are winners at the Cardiff City Open Tom Mathews and Paul Karabardak claim Gold medals at the British Para Championships in Grantham. Josh Stacey & Tam Eastwood won Silvers with Cellan Hall taking a Bronze May Wales lost to Malaysia in the semi-finals of Division 3 at the World Championships in Sweden. Beth Roberts, Charlotte Carey, Anna Hursey and Chloe Thomas represented Wales. Charlotte Carey won the National Championships for a 4 th time beating Chloe Thomas in the final in Swansea. Callum Evans beat Ryan Owen in the men s final to retain his title. Neil Wright won the Vets 40s Category. U21 winners were Callum Evans & Anna Hursey. Other winners were Evan O Connor (U13 boys), Charlotte & Callum (Mixed doubles), Callum & Louie (Men s Doubles), Charlotte & Chloe (Women s Doubles), Mark Farrow & Lee Thomas (Vets Doubles), Ruby Elliott (U11 and U13 singles), Toby Harwood (U11 boys), Joseph Roberts (U15 boys), Louie & Joseph (U18 doubles), Anna Hursey (u15 & U18 girls singles), Benedict Watson (U18 boys), Steve Hall (O50 s), Dennis Bromage (O70 s) and Gareth Dommett (O60 s singles) Anna Hursey reaches the QF of the team event at the ITTF Polish Youth Open Callum Evans won the triple at the Blackpool Grand Prix (Men s, U21 s and Band 1). Beth Richards won Band 2 and Jamie-Lee Harley won Band 3 Josh Stacey wins a Silver & Bronze at the Slovakian Para Open Charlotte Carey attended the ETTU women s coaches conference in Halmstad, Sweden
Jack Simpkins, Dean Cundy and Rhys Hetherton were winners at the Dragon Series competition Callum Evans won the Band 1 at the Nottingham Grand Prix. Beth Richards reached the final of the U21 s with Lara Whitton losing in Semi-Finals. Anna Hursey participates at another ETTU Talents Camp in Poland with Coach Dean Cundy Charlotte Carey competed at the ITTF Thailand Open Tom Mathews and Paul Karabardak win Silver medals at the Slovenia Para Open in Lasko June Peter Higgins joined thousands of players in Las Vegas to umpire at the World Vets Championships Gold for Beth Richards U18 girls) at the International Senior Schools in Worcester University. Lara Whitton claimed Silver (U14 s) and Beth partnered Jamie-Lee Harley (U18 team) for a Bronze medal. Benedict Watson won a Bronze in the U18 boy s category and Grace Clement also came away with a Bronze (U14s) Jay Price, Rhys Hetherton and Jack Simpkins were winners at the Dragon series June event Another successful U3a competition was run in Cardiff Julian Boyer elected as new TTW chair TTW host GB Camp at Sport Wales National Centre Benedict Watson, Joseph Roberts, Beth Richards & Lara Whitton claim the titles at the Cadet & Junior Masters Charlotte Carey competes at the ITTF Bulgarian Open Steve Eades elect as TTW Vice-President
July Cardiff host the 2021 Vets European Championships after Steve Eades, Mike Watts and Owen Rodgers win bid in Romania Charlotte Carey reaches Top 100 in World Rankings 10 players headed to the European Youth Championships in Cluj- Napoca. Wales had wins over Sweden and England in the Cadet Girls category Aspire 2Be are announced as TTW Digital partners Anna Hursey appears on famous Sky 1 show A league of their Own Swansea were awarded Gold medals at the Urdd competition Gemau Cymru Lara Whitton, Yameen & Rashad Al-Dahiri head to the B75 training camp in Denmark August Charlotte Carey competed at the ITTF Czech Open Josh Morgan announced as new Swansea University Coach Anna Hursey competed at the ITTF Hong Kong Youth Open Betty Gray, TTW President, passes away
September New Swansea University Starts Beth Richards, Lara Whitton, Seren Jones, Joseph Roberts, Rhys Hetherton, Elis O Connor & Benedict Watson claimed the titles at the Ael y Bryn Open New North Wales Regional Centre in Deeside begins Anna Hursey loses in the final of the Crawley Grand prix to Hannah Hicks. Beth Richards won the U21 women s singles Anna Hursey finishes joint 9 th at the ETTU Cadet Top 10 in Portugal Callum Evans reached the Last 64 of the Men s singles at the European Championships in Alicante after some high profile wins. Charlotte Carey partnered Paul Drinkall to reach the last 32 of the mixed doubles Welsh Vets staged a great Home Nations in Cardiff with a variety of medals won. 4 gold, 3 silver and a bronze were collected over the weekend Josh Stacey wins double Gold at the Czech Para Open TTW hold their AGM in Cardiff Anna Hursey, Grace Clement and Beth Richards win Gold at the Greenhouse 4* Team event in London. Anna also won the junior singles. Lara and Louie win banded events Dean Cundy, Benedict Watson, Louie Evans, Lara Whitton, Beth Richards and Evan Williams were winners at the Glamorgan Championships at Cardiff City TTC George Evans elected as new TTW President
October Tom Mathews won Bronze at the World Para Championships in Slovenia Lara Whitton completed a double at the North Gwent Open winning both the Junior & Cadet Open. Cade Short won the Junior Boys, whilst Joseph Roberts won the cadet boys singles. Lowri Hurd and Rhys Hetherton won the U13 girls & boys respectively Charlotte Carey loses out to Taiwan player Liu Hsing-Yin at the ITTF Swedish Open Scotland beat Wales in Senior, Junior & Cadet friendly match in Perth Danielle Kelly received her first Welsh team call up for the Bath GP in January. Cade Short also selected after a period out. Beth Richards, Lauren Stacey, Joseph Roberts, Benedict Watson & Marc Castro also called up Josh Morgan attends the ETTU coaches conference in Paris TTW board release new strategy Wales win several medals at the Perth Open. Beth Roberts (Women & Band 1), Marc Castro (Band 1), Yameen Al-Dahiri (Band 1 silver and Junior Boys), Lydia John (Band 1 and Junior girls silver) Anna Hursey received a nomination to the short list for Young Sports Personality of the Year Ynys Y Mon (Div 1) and Swansea (Div 2) lead their respective divisions at the first weekend of Vets TCW held in Cardiff Ryan Owen won the Hereford Open A team of 6 headed to the Namur International Open. Lara Whitton finished 8 th with Joseph Roberts 9 th in their respective categories. It was a fist International event for Sasha Lewis, Rhys Hetherton, Lowri Hurd & Toby Harwood. New Table Tennis App launches 8 players (Ben Allen, Anna Hursey, Evan O Connor, Ruby Elliott, Oscar Marriott, Evan Williams, Beth Richards, Evan Williams & Grace Clement) headed to Shanghai for a 10 day training camp
November Josh Stacey wins Silver at the Spanish Para Open Cardiff City TTC takes several teams to the first weekend of JBL held in Derby Cade Short & Joseph Roberts added yet more ranking titles to their collections at the St Mellons Open. Other winners were Lauren Stacey, Beth Richards, Jack Palfrey & Sasha Lewis 7 players headed to Portugal for the ITTF Youth Open. Anna Hursey had to retire at the last 16 round. Louie Evans & Lara Whitton reached the last 32 stage GB coach Neil Robinson was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Bridgend College for his services to table tennis Anna Hursey wins the Preston Grand Prix women s singles December Callum Evans finished 39th position at the 2018 Finland Open Beth Richards won the Bristol 4* Junior Open Anna Hursey won the Young Sports Person Award at the Pride of Sport Awards Anna Hursey joined up with other European Young Elite players in Buzau for an ETTU Talents Camp Callum Evans received an invite to compete at the European U21 Championships in March 2019 in Portugal Both Glamorgan & Gwent were in County action Bethan Jones R/up at the Sycamore 2* Cadet Open. Lowri Hurd won the U12 St Nicolas Championships The Cardiff GP was held at Sport Wales National Centre. Day 1 winners from Wales included Callum Evans (Band 2), Joseph Roberts (Band 5) and Paul Karabardak (Band 6). On day 2 both Callum Evans and Chloe Thomas reached the men s and women s semi-finals respectively. Sam Slatter teamed up with Nancy Yeh Tsz Yan to win the Open doubles. Callum Evans collected the U21 top prize Selections were made for the 2019 Euro Cadet Challenge in Cardiff. Louie Evans, Lara Whitton, Ruby Elliott, Bethan Jones, Sasha Lewis, Seren Jones, Rhys Hetherton and Lowri Hurd will face Luxembourg, Malta, Iceland and England
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