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)
Maria Tsaptsinos
...started playing table tennis during the last year of her primary schooling and then joined Kingfisher club whereas she trained with Brian Halliday and later had weekly sessions with Gareth Herbert. Then she was invited to Lilleshall and Sheffield for the Youth Development Squad and consequently to the International Youth Squad. Represented England in various tournaments since 2012 and participated at the Youth Europeans as a Caded and Junior. In 2015 the first call for a senior cap came for the Europeans and Table Tennis Commonwealth.
Maria currently is a scholar at University of Nottingham studying Geography.
Her other interests include football, music and spends time socialising on facebook.
Sponsors: Tees Sport, Spire Dunedin Hospital, SSE with the help of SportsAid, Table Tennis 365, TASS
Sunday, 25 November 2012
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