Polish Junior Open

The Polish Junior Open tournament is taking place on the 28 May 2014 to the 1st of June 2014, at Wladyslawowo.

An ENG/WEL team with Maria, Tin Tin Ho and Charlotte Carey were drawn on group G to face Lithuania and Poland A. As a team they beat Lithuania 3-1 (Maria winning 3-0 against SOKOLOVSKYTE Jolita with 11-6, 11-5, 11-8) but lost to Poland A 3-1 (Maria winning 3-2 against KNYSZEWSKA Paulina with 11-6, 11-13, 6-11,12-10, 12-10). Maria was playing as the number 3.

The good results at the team event balanced a little bit the results for the singles event where Maria was drawn in a group with Chinese Taipei, Russian and German girls. Maria lost 11-7, 11-4, 11-9 to LIN Chia-Hsuan from TPE; 11-7, 3-11, 11-13, 9-11 to KAMMERER Janina from GER; 14-12, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6 to CHERNYAVSKAYA Ekaterina from RUS. The Maria lost in the first round of the consolation 11-9,18-16,11-9 to another German girl KAIM Julia. For the doubles Maria and Tin lost 7-11,9-11,12-10,11-6,9-11 to CAREY Charlotte/LINKE Camille-Chloe. The Polish tournament is as always very competitive with more than 40 countries competing from Europe and Asia.

Overall, the English teams failed to make a mark and the only notable exception was Tin Tin reaching the Quarter Finals of the Singles main draw.

The ETTA National Council awards Maria

The National Council following the recommendation of the Honours Committee has awarded Maria the Johnny Leach MBE Most Improved Player of the Year for 2013/14. In a season that has seen Maria rising to the 6th position of the senior women, with national titles for the Under21s, Juniors and School Games the award is the official recognition of Maria's efforts and commitment. This honour follows the 2011 Mike Watts Achievements Award 

ISF World Schools Championship

a point against Bulgaria

The ISF World Schools Championships are taking place at Clermont-Ferrant in France, 4th to the 10th of April. Maria, Tin Tin Ho, Emma Torkington and Yuki Wat are representing the National Selected Team of England.
The girls finished the team event with the bronze medal behind the clear favourites China and Chinese Taipei. The team started the competition by beating France, the hosts, by 4-3; followed by a win against Turkey with a 6-1 score, then lost 6-1 to Chinese Taipei,  followed by a good win against Bulgaria with 5-2. Next round they lost to China 7-0 but their win against Greece with 5-2 gave them the medal.
The ETTA report  for the first two days and for the final day there is another report provide more information. The report on individual rounds can be found here

The Girls

The England Squad

Reaching new heights at the senior rankings

Today's publication of the new rankings shows that Maria has climbed to the sixth place for the senior women in England. This is her all time record position and a great reward after her performance at the nationals: 

SSE Next Generation

Maria's video done for her sponsors SSE during the away day at Loughborough University: SSE Promotional Video

Success at the Home Six Nations Tournament

Over three days (Friday-Sunday, 14-16th of March) Maria represented England for the Home Six Nations taking place at Guernsey, at Junior Level.
Maria with her team mate Emma Torkington finished first at the Team Event beating 5-0 all other nations (Guernsey Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Guernsey B).
Maria's results:
vs Naomi Priest  Guernsey B 3-0 (1, 1, 1)
vs Charlotte Casey Guernsey B 3-0 (2, 3, 4)
vs Priest/Casey Guernsey B 3-0 (5, 2, 5)
vs Rachael Crawford Scotland 3-0 (9, 2, 2)
vs Lucy Elliott Scotland 3-1 (7, -5, 4, 6)
vs Crawford/Elliott 3-0 (6, 10, 7)
vs Cleo Rosumek Guernsey 3-0 (4, 5, 2)
vs Chloe Le Tissier Guernsey 3-0 (2, 0, 5)
vs Rosumek/Le Tissier 3-0 (7, 6, 4)
vs Laura Edwards Wales 3-1 (3, -9, 5, 6)
vs Soffi Jenkins Wales 3-0 (2, 5, 5)
vs Edwards/Jenkins 3-0 (8, 5, 11)
vs Emma Ludlow Ireland 3-0 (5, 4, 10)
vs Hannah Lynch-Dawson Ireland 3-0 (5, 10, 7)
vs Ludlow/Lynch-Dawson 3-0 (7, 8, 12)

On Sunday, the Individual group stage commenced and Maria won her group by winning against Charlotte Casey Guernsey B 3-0 (8, 5, 5) and Lucy Elliott Scotland 3-1 (-11, 13, 4, 9). For the Quarter Finals she met Rachael Crawford Scotland and progressed with a 3-1 (11, 10, -9, 2) and for the Semi Final won 3-0 against Hannah Lynch-Dawson Ireland (5, 5, 8) to face Emma Torkington at the final. Maria won the title 3-1 (-9, 6, 8, 14) to end another successful weekend of table tennis.

The official ETTA report can be found here

Nationals 2013/14 - Gallery

The following photos were taken by Maria's mom during the tournament.