Bristol Grand Prix 2015 Women's final: Video

The Table Tennis England Association has made the video of the final available today. Watch on YouTube the five setter game of Maria versus the Italian Ciara Colantoni.

Bristol Grand Prix Success

Maria was crowned the 2015 Bristol Grand Prix Women's and Under 21s Singles champion on Sunday the 15th of November. The competition took place at the University of West England Sport Centre.
Maria finished her group stage with three wins against Edyta Schmid (3-0), Amelia Chan (3-1) and the very promising Anna Hursey (3-0).
At the quarter final stage Maria defeated Emily Bolton (3-1) and progressed to the semi final where 
she met fellow Nottingham University player Emma Ludlow and with a 3-1win she reached the final. At the final she met the Grantham-based Italian Chiara Colantoni. 

The final was a constant battle, highly entertaining with Maria winning the first two sets 12-10 and 14-12. The next two sets were won by Chiara  (11-13 and 5-11). The momentum was now with the Italian girl, especially when the score was 6-10 in her favour. At 7-10 a time out was taken by Chiara and Maria determined as always believed that the game is not finished yet. The next 5 points went Maria's way for a fifth set win of 12-10. 

For the Under 21s group Maria progressed with three 3-0 wins against Kate Roberts, Amy Blagbrough and Medha Verma. Maria faced Kelsey LeMaistre for the quarter final and Gina Rieck for the semi final winning with the same score 3-0 both games. In the final she faced the second seed Emily Bolton and Maria won the second title of the day with yet another 3-0.

Etta report

Part of the TASS Family

Maria has been selected to join the family of TASS (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme). TASS is a Government funded programme that represents a unique partnership between talented young athletes, National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGB’s) and the Higher (University) and Further (college/school) Education sector. TASS aims to help its athletes to balance academic life with training and competition as a performance athlete.

Maria would like to thank TASS for all the provided support which it will help her during her University days at Nottingham University starting this September.

Commonwealth Table Tennis Senior Call

Maria has been included in the squad to represent England at the Table Tennis Commonwealth games taking place in India this December. Karina LeFevre, Tin Tin Ho and Lois Peake will join Maria trying to achieve medal positions.

The official Table Tennis England report can be read here

First Senior Cap Calling

Maria has been selected to represent England for the Women's team for the European Championships taking place in Russia from the 25th of September to the 4th of October together with Kelly Sibley, Karina Le Fevre and Tin Tin Ho. This is the first opportunity for Maria to earn her first senior cap.

The official announcement as appeared at the website of Table Tennis England can be read here.

Highs and Lows of the European Youth tournament

Maria spent more than 10 days at Bratislava with fellow England squad members Tin Tin Ho and Lois Peake representing the country as Junior Girls for the 58th European Youth Championships.
In the team event the team finished 7th, the best performance for a very long time but a shoulder injury to Maria meant that once we qualified for the quarters she had to withdrawn for the rest of the games in the team, individual and doubles.

As a team England were drawn in Group F with Switzerland, Finland, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Greece as well for Level 2.

 
England had an early start on Friday the 10th of July against Greece and three wins for Tin Tin, Maria and Lois made sure the team started on a positive note.

Maria's game vs Chatzilygeroudi Georgia: -13, 3, 10, -8, 7

The afternoon game at three o'clock followed the same pattern and score for a 3-0 win over Finland.
Maria's game vs Kirichenko Anna: 4, 2, 9



On Saturday the team faced Switzerland with both countries having two wins under their belt. England won 3-1 with two wins from Tin Tin and one from Lois.
Maria's game vs  Reust, Celine: -4, -8, -3

Against Bosnia and Hercegovina the team won 3-0 with each girl getting a win.
Maria's game vs Ehic Elda: 8, 6, 6

On Sunday for the play off the team faced Estonia and came winners with a 3-2 score.
Maria's game vs Vameri Airi: -9, 7, -7, 7, 9

 At seven o'clock the team faced the mighty Germans and reached the last-8 by beating them 3-1 with two wins from Tin Tin and one from Lois.
Maria's game vs  Wan Yuan: -6, 0, -9

Unfortunately this was the last game for Maria. Th team then went to lose to Romania and Sweden 3-2 and by beating Belgium 3-2 finishing seventh.

Senior Nationals 2015 - Gallery of Pics

All photos courtesy of Alan Man - available at flickr