Finlandia Open

After an absence of a year Maria returned to the European scene by attending the tournament in Finland, 8-11 of December.

For the singles Maria finished 41st with the following results:
vs Sarah Horgen (Norway) W 4-2  (-4 6 7 -8 8 9)
vs S. Mokhnacheva ( Russia) L 0-4 (-5 -6 -13 -4)
vs Carolina Tanska (Sweden)  W 4-1  (-8 9 8 8 9)

vs Mireille Kroon (Switzerlan)  W 4-1  (8 5 14 -10 3)

vs Anastasia Komova (Russia) L 2-4 ( -7 -6 6 10 -3 -8)

vs Michaela Karlsson (Sweden) L 1-4 ( -9 -8 12 -9 -7)

vs Daria Shadrina (Russia) W 4-3 (-7 -10 3 8 6 -9 7)

vs Anastasia Ziberova (Russia) W 4-0 (10 5 7 5)

vs Margo Degraef (Belgium) W 4-2 (10 -5 9 -6 8 8)

First Weekend of the British League

Maria represented Kingfisher at the first weekend of the British League, in the Championship Division. The team of David Barr, Marcus Giles, Harry Gehlot, Daniel Basterfield faced Drumchapel Glasgow and Cippenham teams on ths Sunday (11th of Sptember) with Maria recording 4 wins.
versus Andrew Mcfadyen Drumchapel Glasgow II 11-4 11-4 11-9
versus Andrew Dunlop Drumchapel Glasgow II 11-2 11-5 11-8
versus Martin Adams Cippenham I 11-4 11-5 11-6
versus Martin Gray Cippenham I 11-6 11-3 11-5
The team beat Drumchapel Glasgow II 7-1 and Cippenham I 5-3.

Sponsors

More Joy at the Nationals: Womens Doubles Winners

(Photo courtesy of Michael Lovender)

On Sunday, Maria and Tin Tin were crowned for the second year running national champions for the women's doubles in a repeat of last year's final versus Karina LeFevre and Emma Vickers with the same scoreline (3-1, 11-2, 16-4, 8-11, 11-7). In the previous rounds they faced Charlotte Bardsley/Sophie Barlow (11-8, 11-6, 11-5) and Letitia McMullan/Mollie Patterson (11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5).

You can watch the final on YouTube 

http://youtu.be/ezQzLY_kGl8

National Champion for the Under21s

The English National Championships took place at Hatfield, Friday to Sunday. Maria had one game on Friday versus Ella Patel and progressed to the next round with a comfortable 3-0 win (0, 5, 9). On Saturday the competition intensified asMaria faced Denise Payet (4-0, 6, 5, 20, 5) and Emily Bolton (4-1, 6, 6, -10, 7, 5) to reach the final against Tin Tin Ho.

with Tom Jarvis (U21s winner)

with Liam McTiernan (bronze at U21s , Kingfisher team mate)

The final was one of the most dramatic table tennis games one could wish for. It had great shots, change of scores, medical attention. Maria took the first set 12-10 but Tin Tin took the next three ones (8-11, 8-11 6-11) cruising towards the national title. Maria determined as always took the next set 13-11 saving one championship point. The next set was fought hard by both girls but Maria edged it with a an 11-8 win to set up a decider set. Maria started well taking a 5-1 lead which Tin Tin slowly and steadily eroded. With 10-11 and Tin Tin ready to serve Maria had a bad fall hurting her back. This resulted in a medical break for almost the allowed ten minutes. Maria won the next three points. Unfortunately, she was not in the mood to celebrate because she knew her fall had affected her good friend and subsequently apologised for making her wait.

British universities champions

Maria and her table tennis partner Yolanda King won the championship title representing Nottingham University. They beat the local rivals Nottingham Trent University.