England number 1s Tom Jarvis and Tin-Tin Ho top the list of players automatically invited to the 2026 Mark Bates Ltd Senior National Championships.
Paralympic medalists Billy Shilton, Megan Shackleton and Jack Hunter-Spivey have been invited to the para competitions.
The January rankings, which have been published herewere used to determine the top eight senior men and senior women who will be invited to the flagship tournament at the David Ross Sports Village in Nottingham from March 20 to 22. Tickets for the event go on sale next month.
Defending champions Ho and Liam Pitchford are among them and Ho will look to make history by winning an unprecedented eighth women’s singles title, having equaled the record of seven held by Table Tennis England President Jill Parker MBE last year.
Ho is the only woman in the field to have won the women’s singles title, while four invited athletes have a combined 19 men’s singles titles.
Pitchford won for the seventh time last year and moved level with Paul Drinkhall for second place on the all-time list. Andrew Baggaley has three titles and Jarvis two.
The invitees are:
| Men’s singles | Ladies singles | ||
| 1 | Tom Jarvis | 1 | Tin-Tin Ho |
| 2 | Liam Pitchford | 2 | Yyan is you. |
| 3 | Paul Drinkhal | 3 | Sophie Earley |
| 4 | Sam Walker | 4 | Ella Pashley |
| 5 | David McBeath | 5 | Jasmine Wong |
| 6 | Connor Green | 6 | Mari Baldwin |
| 7 | Andrew Baggaley | 7 | Sienna Jetha |
| 8 | Joseph Hunter | 8 | Anna Green |
Meanwhile, Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020 medalist Billy Shilton is the best of the six athletes invited to compete in the Class 6-10 competition, which he won last year.
Defending champion Jack Hunter-Spivey is invited to the Class 2-5 competition, where he will be joined by fellow Tokyo Paralympic medalist Megan Shackleton.
The invitees are:
| Class 2-5 | Classes 6-10 | |||
| 1 | Megan Shackleton | 1 | Billy Shilton | |
| 2 | Jack Hunter Spivey | 2 | Shae Thacker | |
| 3 | Romain Simon | 3 | Max Flint | |
| 4 | Lauren Jones | 4 | Jaiden Caldeira | |
| 5 | Andreas Green | 5 | Daniel Thomson | |
| 6 | Thomas Hepburn | 6 | Bailey Page | |
Enter the qualifying tournament and compete to join the big players!
Entries are currently open for the qualifying rounds of the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships, which will be played on Friday 20 March.
it promises to be a spectacular competition as players compete to join the best players in the main event, while providing rich entertainment to hundreds of spectators.
Everyone participating in the qualifying phase will compete for the remaining 24 spots, with the main event starting with the last 32.
All participants must have more than 200 Senior ranking points, or be dummies with more than 200 points, as of the entry deadline of Wednesday, February 18 at 11:59 PM.
Entries are on a first-come, first-served basis, with the exception of the top 50 Senior Men and top 32 Senior Women, who have protected spaces – but must still arrive before the deadline.
Any eligible player can also compete in the doubles categories, with a maximum of 16 pairs in each category, with priority given to pairs with the highest combined ranking points.
The qualification for the qualifying tournament will be based on the February rankings.
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