Chen and Lemmon secure their place on ITTF World Hopes Week – Table Tennis England

12 boys and 12 girls younger than 12 years on the international calendar on their way to Sheffield to participate in the very first England Hopes Week Challenge Cup. Where the winner of the Boys and Girls event is rewarded with a Yoker signs on the upcoming ITTF World Hopes Week, held at the requirement in Sheffield, 13-19 October 2025.

The event started with the boys and girls split into three groups of four, with Lusio Wen and Amber Lemmon number one in the event, because of their national ranking, with the rest of the groups determined by a snake seed system.

In the Girls event each of the top seeds three placed players (Amber Lemmon, Serene Rahmani-Walentynska and Cindy Xiao) went through group phase 2, where players will play for positions 1-3, each with avoided to go to the fifth end in the group phase. However, the boy’s event was much more complex. Lusio Wen was the winner of group one and overwent Li Hao Chen 3-1 in his closest battle. Sai Prasanna Kumar was first sown in group 2 and seemed to qualify, to an inspired comeback from Lev Sahmurov where he took the match 12-10 in the fifth. In group 3, Jayden Xuan Chen, Seconded Second, came at the top, but not without many group stage fights, who came down from 2-0 to beat Christopher Darby, followed by a hard fought 3-1 victory over both Oliver Glowacki and top seeds Malek Shamakh.

With the players now split into 4 groups of three players, based on their final position of group 1, each player fought for their final positions. Boys group 1 saw Jayden Xuan Chen come to the top and defeated Lev Sahmurov and Lusio Wen both by a 3-0 score, which secured his place during the upcoming ITTF World Hopes Week. Lusio Wen ended the event as a challenge on Challenge Cup with a 3-1 win over Sahmurov about running a 1-0 deficit to take the game 3-1.
Li Hao Chen achieved fourth place in general and the top place in Boys Group 2. The group quickly started with Malek Shamakh who defeated Sai Prasanna Kumar 3-0, Li Hao Chen then beat Prasanna Kumar 3-1 for a collision to decide 4-5 positions; It was Chen who exceeded 3-0 above Shamakh.
Ronan Lamont Tierney secured the 7th place in group 3 and almost in group 2 and lost winner Li Hao Chen 3-2 in group 2, in the very first match of the day. Lamont-Tierney won 2 of 2 via Lancastric countrymen, defeated Stefan Wierszllowski 3-1 and Oliver Glowacki 3-0. It was Wierszllowski who finished in the 8th with a 3-1 victory over Glowacki.
In the battle for positions 10-12 there was only one game to play, because of the withdrawal of Zachariah Sarri. The 10th place went to Luton TTC-Jongere Christopher Darby who overcame Jonti Barnes 3-1.

In the girls event, Amber Lemmon joined her Archway Peterborough teammate in securing her place in the ITTF World Hopes Week, while she defeated teammate Cindy Xiao and Serene Rahmani-Walentynska to secure the top place. It was Xiao who finished the number two, while she conquered the third placed serene Rahmani-Walentynska 3-1.
Bethany Yang pushed the winner Amber Lemmon to the extreme in the first group phase, before she finished her Challenge Cup campaign at a peak in fourth place with victories over Isabella Xiao Xu and Phoebe O’Brien. Xiao Xu defeated O’Brien in three consecutive games in the opening game at the afternoon group phase, allowing them to end 5th, with O’Brien in 6th place.
Mindy Gao conquered twin sister Mila Gao to finish third in group phase 1, and continued her winning ways in group phase 2, with victories in Sakinah Damji and Shreya Popat to finish in the 7th position. Sakinah Damji achieved an 8th place finish with a strong 3-0 win over Popat.
While the girls fought for the final positions 10-12, Kingfisher Club Mats Rabani Ahluwaila and Swara Maabhashyan went against the head; With Ahluwaila from the top 3-0. Mila Gao then defeated Mahabhashyan 3-1, for a narrow battle between GAO and Ahluwaila for 10th place, with the Ormesby-Jongere, Gao, from the top 11-7 in the decision maker.

Final positions –
Boys – Jayden Xuan Chen, Lusio Wen, Lev Shamurov, Li Hao Chen, Malek Shamakh, Sai Prasanna Kumar, Ronan Lamont-Tierney, Stefan Wirszlowski, Oliver Głowacki, Christopher Darby, Jonti Barnes, Zachariah Sarri.
Girls – Amber Lemmon, Cindy Xiao, Serene Rahmani-Walentynska, Bethany Yang, Isabella Xiao Xu, Phoebe O’Brien, Mindy Gao, Sakinah Damji, Shreya Popat, Mila Gao, Rabani Ahluwaila, Swara Mahabyan.