New Rankings Information

The new rankings were published today and Maria moved from being 6th Junior Girl with 1841 points to the 4th position with 2129 points and from the 18th position (2407 points) for Senior Women to the 16th position with 2524 points.

The following tournaments, that Maria participated, were taken into consideration

Polish Open – Hungarian Junior Open
Junior National Championships
Women's Premier British League
Junior Premier British League

More photos from the nationals

Courtesy of Alan Man and Andy Mintram

Doubles with Tin Tin Ho

Doubles Presentation with Tin Tin

Semi Finalists (Singles) with Lois Peake

Celebrating with Tin Tin at the end of the final

Action shot semi final singles against Emily Bates

Air Maria!

Doubles Final hugs with Tin Tin

Junior nationals

Competing at Hatfield on Saturday the 24th Maria had another good weekend with the pinnacle being the national title for the girls doubles partnering Tin Tin Ho. This was done in some style recording four straight 3-0 wins.
Won against Aydin and Tofalides 11-9 11-4 11-3, then against Forster and Davidson 11-5 11-2 11-8, followed by a 11-5 11-6 12-10 against Ashley and Gibson and in the final they beat Bates and Knowles 11-8 11-5 11-5. The team was coached by Brian Halliday who has overseen all Maria's national triumphs the past 18 months.

For the singles Maria was seeded number five and she went through the group stages with another three straight wins against Davidson (11-3 11-5 11-4), Gray (11-1 11-6 11-7) and Aydin (11-4 11-7 11-5). At the next round she faced McMullan and despite dropping a set she won 3-1 (11-3 11-2 7-11 11-4). At the quarter finals a very difficult game was waiting against Vicky Smith that Maria had never beaten before. At that stage the target as set by her seeding was met and everything else would had been a bonus.
After taking a two set lead both with the same score 11-9, Vicky came back to make it two all with the same score 11-6. At the deciding game Vicky was 7-4 up but then Maria rallied to win 11-8.
Next round, the semi final, Maria was to face Emily Bates yet another player she had never beaten before. Emily highly experienced in England and in Europe and with many national titles under her belt looked a very difficult prospect to beat. Maria took the first set in a very convincing manner 11-5 and she was leading for the second set 10-8 but Emily did not give up and she came back to win it 10-12. The third set went Emily's way with 9-11 and Maria responded with her own 11-9 win at the fourth set. At the deciding game Maria had three chances to reach the final when she had game points at 11-9, 11-10 and 12-11 but she did not take them and Emily took her own chance to win 12-14. The performance of Maria was probably the best of the day playing a player with not only vast experience but in a style that one might call awkward.

For the mixed doubles Maria and her partner Liam Mctiernan were eliminated in the first round by Danny Lawrence and Emily Bolton (9-11 9-11 7-11)

Junior Nationals Preview

This coming Saturday the junior nationals are taking place at Hatfield.
Maria is participating in three events: singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
For the singles she is seed 5 and at the group stages she will face Daniela Gray, Eleanor Davidson, Eda Aydib and Rebekkah Lycett.
For the doubles Maria and Tin Tin Ho have been seeded number one and in the first round they face Eda Aydin and Sophie Tofalides.
In mixed doubles Maria and her partner Liam McTiernan face Danny Lawrence and Emily Bolton.

Maria too hot to handle

Read here http://www.tabletennis365.com/wbl/news/1636 the interview Maria gave to the women's British league website.

Women's British League Sunday

The team continued their excellent run with two further wins against Sportingbet Guernsey and Thorntons TT 5-1 and 6-0 respectively.

Maria's results against Guernsey were:

A win against Kay Chivers 11-8 11-7 11-7 and a win against Dawn Morgan. 11-5 10-12 11-7 11-8.

Maria's results against Thornton were:

A win against Lisa Radford 11-5 11-8 9-11 11-3 and a win against Liz May 11-5 11-8 11-7.

The team was awarded the Team of the weekend honour.

Women's British League - Saturday

Maria was asked to join the Ormesby team for her debut at the women's British league premier division. The team consists of Chloe Whyte, Karen Shepherd and Maria.

The day finished with the team beating 6-0 Burton Uxbridge, 4-2 Halton Ttc1 and with the same score Draycott and Long Eaton.

Maria has a 100% record, translated into 6 wins out of 6. Her scores were as follows:

Against Burton Uxbridge
Won against Helen Turner 3-0 (11-5 11-4 11-5)
Won against Sophie Neil 3-1 (9-11 14-12 11-2 11-5)

Against Halton TTC1
Won against Fiona Dennet 3-0 (11-4 11-7 11-2)
Won against Angharad Phillips 3-0 (11-7 11-8 12-10)

Against Draycott and Long Eaton
Won against Sarra Wang 3-2 (11-3 9-11 11-8 8-11 12-10)
Won against Jessica Dawson 3-0 (11-4 11-8 11-7)

Hungarian Open: Singles Day 2

Following yesterday's win Maria this morning beat Chloe Thomas from Wales 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-6). The next and final qualifying game is later today (1:25 UK time) against the Dutch girl. She lost 11-5 11-5 11-9 to the Dutch girl but her second position n the group gave her a spot at the main draw.

At the main draw Maria lost to Linda Bergstrom from Sweden 4-0 (5-11, 5-11, 8-11, 8-11).

Maria was the 14th youngest player in her first european tournament for Junior girls and hopefully the experience will benefit her for the forthcoming ones.

Hungarian Open Singles

Today Maria has started competing for the Hungarian Open Singles. For her qualifying group (group 18) Maria ranked 77th (out of 93) she has to face Ingrida Preidziute (Lithuania, ranked 38th ), Chloe Thomas (Walses, ranked 76th) and Alice Barendrest (Netherlands, ranked 34th ). For the first game she defeated Ingrida 3-0 (11-7 11-8 11-7) with the next two games scheduled for tomorrow.

Hungary Junior Updates

Maria arrived safely in Hungary to represent England at the Junior Level. Unfortunately she is the only girl since Tessa and Jessica dropped out because of injuries. Fortunately, Maria will be able to take part at the team event as a member of a mixed team from England and Canada. The games start today and the team has to face Chinese Taipei A and Slovakia A. A difficult draw!
Results will start appearing here