On Friday, the ITTF rankings came out showing a new ranking record for Maria, at the 185th position. This was a good omen for what it was to follow for the National Championships taking place at Nottingham University, 1-3 March 2019. On Sunday after a hard fought semi final against Denise Payet Maria proceeded to the final with a 4-2 score despite being two sets down to begin with. The same pattern, going 2-0 down followed next for the womens doubles final with Emily Bolton and Denise Payet forcing Maria and Tin Tin Ho to raise their game and win at the end with a 3-2 score. At the singles final Maria kept on the table (the vast majority of the time) and she was aggressive to take a 2-0 lead versus Tin Tin. As usual, Tin Tin who never gives up came back to equalise to 2 all. Maria though was determined not to throw away her opportunity and triumphed 4-2 to be crowned for the first time the senior womens national champion. Time to celebrate!
Maria would like to acknowledge all the support she has received in the past from the Kingfisher club where all started, sponsors, and various coaches and hitting partners (too many to name!). Special mention to Peter Charters for organising sessions and a big thank you to the late Brian Halliday who instilled the love and belief. Thank you all for providing the foundation for this achievement.
Maria's games plus other games can be seen at the
BBC site.
The achievement has been reported widely at
ETTU ,
TTE as well as in the
Hellenic Table Tennis Federation.
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| Good friends! |
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| with Liam |
Since Maria also plays for AEK Table Tennis the AEK
family were happy to announce the results and wish Maria all success for the future.
Maria's post
interview
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