Golden Day for Pitchford, Hursey, Drinkhall and Walker at WTT Feeder Manchester!

On a historic day for British table tennis, Liam Pitchford and Anna Hursey Singles won titles and Paul Drinkhall & Sam Walker names men's subfells of gold at WTT Feeder Manchester.

The double pair was the first to win and Rafael de Las Heras & Diego Lillo van Spain 3-1 (10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10) defeated in the final for a sold-out crowd in the National Cycling Center.

GB Pathway player Hursey Van Wales won her fourth consecutive tournament and her first senior-to-do she beat the Spain's Elvira Rad 3-0 in the final of the ladies singles.

And Pitchford brought the curtain down on an incredible day with an emphatic victory over Samuel Kulczycki van Polen in the final of the men's Singles – his first WTT title.

Previously, Connor Green & Sophie Earley lost the final of the mixed Doubles.

View the matches in which British players are involved on the request on the Table Tennis England YouTube channel.

Photos by Michael Loverer, official photographer of Table Tennis England

Singles for Women

Anna Hursey won her first senior WTT title and her fourth tournament on the spider after winning three consecutive under-19 titles on the WTT youth circuit.

Her shape stopped when she only admitted all the tournament in the semi-final and she will now break into the top 100 in the world.

The final itself was not a breeze, with Hursey at the back of the early stages and again in the third game, when the score was 7-4 in favor of Rad. But Hursey's faith is Rock-Solid and she took the next seven points to claim the title.

Anna Hursey came in the final with an excellent 3-1 win over the Japanese Kaho Akae. Sixth seed versus seventh seed, and 101 versus 123 in the world ranking, promised a narrow match, but Hursey with a higher-ranked grasp the initiative and opened a 2-0 lead, which never ran in both games.

Akae hit back to take the third and then led the fourth 8-3 and looked in to bring it to a decision maker. But Hursey clicked on a higher gear and used eight consecutive points, both sides of the Time-Out of Akae at 8-9, to continue to the final of this afternoon.

Rad (WR 334), which came through the qualifying rounds, stroked Sofia-Xuan Zhang (WR 148) in the All-Spanish semi-final.

Men's Singles

Liam Pitchford finally got a WTT/ITTF title when he defeated Samuel Kulczycki van Polen in the last 3-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-8).

Pitchford played like a man on a mission, played the game at his pace and revealed a battery of weapons that could not prevent the young pole (WR 154).

From 5-5 in the first, when Pitchford hit the front, there would only be one winner, and his only small point of care was when Kulczycki led the third 5-1. When that turned 5-4, the pole took its time-out, but it made no difference and Pitchford sunk on his knees at the end when he finally got his title after the last defeats on the 2020 Qatar open and 2023 Competitor Muscat.

Second Seedpitchford released a memorable victory over Csaba Andras to reach the final and came back from 2-0 in a tension-packed match.

Hungary's Andras (WR 166) had defeated Paul Drinkhall in his run to the semi-final and started quickly, opened a 6-1 lead on the way to the first 11-8. It was also 6-1 in the second, and this time Andreas won 11-6 to open an advantage of two games.

But Pitchford, based on the support of the crowd, was never in the back of the third, which he won 11-9 a score he repeated in the fourth.

Toen hij met 3-0 achterliep in de beslisser, belde coach John Murphy de time-out en het leek Pitchford te galvaniseren terwijl hij zich een weg terug werkte, de leiding nam op 6-5 en nooit afstand te doen van drie opeenvolgende punten van 8-8, gaf hem de overwinning-en de emotie van het moment zag hem plat op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn rug op zijn Back on his back on his back on his back on his back on his back on his back were in court before he had a big match.

Kulczycki recovered from losing the first match to beat Daniel Berzosa (WR 309) from Spain 3-1 (9-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-6) in his semi-final.

Lanes

Paul Drinkhall & Sam Walker won a historic first WTT -Dubel title for England and claimed men's subfbs gold at WTT Feeder Manchester.

The English couple defeated Rafael de Las Heras & Diego Lillo van Spain 3-1 (10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10) in the final.

It might have been a bit easier on the collective nerves if they had taken a game point in the first, but they recovered from the setback to lose 12-10 by racing the second and then taking three consecutive points of 9-8 down to win the third.

But the English couple never stood ahead in the fourth and it seemed as if they were on their way to a decision -maker when the Spanish couple had three spelled points. Two points later, the Spaniards took their time -out, but they were destined not to win another point because the English national champions that claimed historical title.

A first wtt -double title – but a second on the circuit for Walker when he and Triels Moregard won the Czech opening of 2021 in the days of the ITTF Pro Tour, the only time so far an English athlete had won a doublet title at that level.

Mixed double

It was not for Connor Green & Sophie Earley, because they were defeated in the final by Jo Yokotani & Kotona Okada from Japan.

The first pair from England to reach a Senior WTT Mixed Doubles final, Green & Earley had paid attention when they defeated Liam Pitchford & Anna Hursey in the semi-final.

They aroused the hope for a new nice victory when they achieved the first match, but their opponents won six points in a row of 5-4 in the second and from that moment the English teenagers held the arm length and took the title 3-1 (5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5).

Ladies doubles

The best seeds were sunk in the final when Krittwika Roy & Sayali Wani from India dropped 3-1 (11-5, 11-8, 11-13, 12-10) to united Dina Meshref from Egypt & Zeng Jian van Singapore.

The fact that the winners were unpredicted masks were their enormous title-winning experience during their individual career-singer won four medals on the Commonwealth games of Birmingham 2022, including Ladies Doubles Gold, while Meshref has won the African Championships in every possible team.

They had both surprisingly missed in the singles, they started in the mood to ensure that they did not leave Manchester empty-handed and opened a 2-0 lead. Although the best seeds hit the third, Meshref & Zeng closed the game in the fourth, although they saw two match points of 10-8 before they take on their third chance.

Result

Singles for Women
Semi -final
Elvira Rad (ESP) BT Sofia-Xuan Zhang (ESP) 3-1 (11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9)
Anna Hursey (Wal) BT Kaho Akae (JPN) 3-1 (11-9, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8)

Final
HURSEY BT RAD 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-7)

Men's Singles
Semi -final
Liam Pitchford BT CSABA Andras (Hun) 3-2 (8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8)
Samuel Kulczycki (Pol) BT Daniel Berzosa (ESP) 3-1 (9-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-6)

Final
Pitchford BT Samuel Kulczycki (Pol) 3-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-8)

Mixed double
Final
Al Yokotani & Thuis Okada (JPN) BT Connor Green & Sophie Earley 3-2 (5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5)

Ladies doubles
Final
Dina Meshref (Egy) & Zeng Jian (SGP) BT-newspaper Roy & Power (11-5, 11-13, 12-10)

Lanes
Final
Paul Drinkhall & Sam Walker BT Rafael de Las Heras & Diego Lillo (ESP) 3-1 (10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10)