Golden duo team up again for Nationals

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Liam Pitchford & Paul Drinkhall are reunited as a doubles pair for the PG Mutual National Championships.

The duo won the Men’s Doubles five times in succession from 2013 to 2017 but split up for last year’s Nationals as the leading English players trialled new combinations ahead of the Commonwealths and other international team events.

Drinkhall partnered David McBeath and the pair took last year’s title, defeating Pitchford and Sam Walker in the final. But now Pitchford & Drinkhall are back and go in search of title No 6 at Nottingham when the Men’s Doubles gets under way on Saturday March 2. Their biggest challenge is likely to come from Walker & McBeath.

It is also friends reunited in the Women’s Doubles as Tin-Tin Ho & Maria Tsaptsinos aim to win a fourth title, having taken a hat-trick between 2015 and 2017. Tsaptsinos is defending the title she won alongside Kelly Sibley last year, beating Ho & Denise Payet in the final. Payet this time teams up with Emily Bolton.

The top pairings in the Mixed Doubles are Tom Jarvis with Tsaptsinos, Ho alongside Josh Bennett and McBeath with Emma Vickers. Payet lines up with James Smith.

Jarvis is the top seed in the U21 Men’s Singles as he aims to win back the title he lost last year to Helshan Weerasinghe. With Weerasinghe no longer eligible, Luke Savill, Bennett and Shayan Siraj complete the top four seeds.

Ho is in her last year in the U21 bracket and is top seed as she looks to complete a hat-trick and take her fifth title overall at that level. Also in the top four seeds are Payet, Bolton and Charlotte Bardsley.

Click here to view the Under-21 pairings

Doubles pairings

Men’s: Liam Pitchford & Paul Drinkhall; Sam Walker & David McBeath; Josh Bennett & Jack Bennett; Alim Hirji & Luke Savill; Adam Nutland & Ethan Walsh; Joe Cope & Shayan Siraj; Gaurav Aravind & George Hazell; Naphat Boonyaprapa & James Smith; David Gofton & Josh Weatherby; Sam Wilson & Graeme Barella; Zak Cantor & Israel Awolaja; Adam Jepson & Joe Killoran; Joseph Goss & Jacob Goss.

Women’s: Tin-Tin Ho & Maria Tsaptsinos; Denise Payet & Emily Bolton; Mollie Patterson & Megan Gidney; Emma Vickers & Lois Peake; Evie Collier & Kate Hughes; Gauri Duhan & Letitia McMullan; Lisa Rinnhofer & Georgia Harris; Millie Rogove & Charlotte Weatherby; Jasmin Wong & Ruby Chan; Anaya Patel & Darcie Proud.

Mixed: David McBeath & Emma Vickers; Tom Jarvis & Maria Tsaptsinos; Josh Bennett & Tin-Tin Ho; Alim Hirji & Emily Bolton; Graeme Barella & Kate Hughes; Jack Bennett & Lois Peake; James Smith & Denise Payet; David Gofton & Mollie Patterson; Naphat Boonyaprapa & Gauri Duhan; Josh Weatherby & Charlotte Weatherby; Joe Cope & Darcie Proud; Sam Wilson & Megan Gidney.

PG Mutual – official sponsor of the National Championships

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