The National Cup run by Table Tennis England see the top 10 nationally ranked players invited to take part. The event sees the top ten under 12’s and under 15’s, compete in separate events. 11-year-old Jake Haygarth who is ranked 11 in England was invited to compete in the under 12’s event.
Held in Grantham over the weekend of 17 th and 18 th of March the event sees all 10 players play each other. Jake, seeded at number 10 had the tough task of the England number 1 in his first game, he put in a good show losing the first two ends by the narrowest of margins before losing the 3 rd . Jake picked him self up to then beat the 5 th seeded player 3-1 to gain his first win of the event. His third match saw only 2 points separate Jake and the 9 th seed, going down in 4 sets. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Jake on day 1 losing his last two matches 3-0.
Day 2 saw a very positive start pushing the 3 rd seed all the way to the 5 th before going down 11-9 in the 5 th set and that was as good as it got with Jake losing the remaining matches 3-0 to finish the event in 9 th place.
“you could see all the losses as negatives” said Bishop Auckland TTC coach Matt Porter “but Jake has been playing for 18 months and playing against much more experienced players who are used to such tough events, Jake improved his game as the weekend went on and was unlucky in some matches not to get some more sets and a few more wins.
Jake said “I really enjoyed the event and its motivated me to work harder ready for the national championships where hopefully I can get a win over one of them”
Bishop Auckland Table Tennis club runs sessions every night of the week for all ages and abilities and new players are always welcome, if you fancy learning or getting back into the sport check out the club’s webpage www.bishopaucklandttc.co.uk or call Matt on 07411018856