The University of Nottingham (UoN) once again dominated the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Table Tennis Championships, winning four of the five titles, including a clean sweep from Jiaqi Meng.
The competition saw approximately 480 athletes take part at David Ross Sports Village, UoN’s home venue.
Meng won all three titles available to her, equaling her feat from the previous year, including defending the Women’s Singles title.
Jonathan Mooney won the men’s singles, Meng and Sophie Earley won the women’s doubles and Meng teamed with Hanming Lin for the mixed.
The only title that Nottingham did not win was the men’s doubles, which went to Adam Dennison and Krish Chotai of Nottingham Trent University.
Click here to visit the BUCS website for full results.
In addition to the medalists, the male and female Player of the Tournament, chosen by the referees, were awarded to Toby Ellis (Sheffield Hallam) and Jasmin Wong (UoN).
Meng didn’t drop a match in women’s singles, advancing through the top quadrant of the competition as the top seed with three group wins and three in the early knockout rounds.
She continued her spotless record by beating Manchester’s Xinyu Li 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-1) in the semi-finals and beat Nottingham colleague Sophie Earley in the final by a score of 11-9, 11-6, 11-6.
Earley had defeated Mollie Patterson of Nottingham Trent, the fourth seed, in three consecutive matches in the other semi-finals.
Three of the quarter-finals were close matches with the winners all coming from behind to win. Li defeated Mari Baldwin (Nottingham) 3-2 (10-12, 12-14, 11-3, 11-5, 11-8), Patterson defeated Jasmin Wong (Nottingham) 3-2 (9-11, 8-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-6) and Earley defeated Yat Sum Ma (Plymouth) 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8).
Mooney may have been a surprise men’s singles champion as the 10th seed, but he advanced through his group easily enough, dropping only a few matches in the early rounds as he advanced to the quarterfinals.
There he dethroned defending champion
His final opponent was Joseph Hee (Cambridge), and it was another 3-2 victory as Mooney took the win 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7).
The other bronze medalist alongside Ellis was Adam Dennison (Nottingham Trent), who was 2-0 up against Hee before he came back to win the score 3-2 (10-12, 5-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-7).
In the women’s doubles, the singles gold and silver medalists won the title together, while Meng & Earley defeated teammates Baldwin & Wong in four (11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4).
Baldwin & Wong had come from 2-0 down to beat another UoN pair, Mabel Shute & Ayla Chitty, 3-2 (9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5) in the semi-finals. In fact it was all UoN on the podium as Anna Green and Rachael Iles were the other defeated semi-finalists, trailing Meng and Earley by 7, 3, 4.
Adam Dennison and Krish Chotai won the men’s doubles for Nottingham Trent, ending the reign of last year’s winners Ben Piggott and Felix Thomis of Sheffield Hallam 3-1 (11-8, 6-11, 12-10, 11-7) in the final.
In the semi-finals, Dennison & Chotai defeated Hanming Lin & Xinliang Sun of UoN 3-1 (11-6, 11-7, 13-15, 11-9), and Piggott & Thomis defeated Danny Bajwa and James Johnson of Strathclyde.
Meng’s hat-trick also included the Mixed, which saw another UoN round of the medals. Meng, together with Hanming Lin, won the final 3-0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-9) against James & Hamblett & Anna Green.
In the semi-finals, the champions defeated Harri Docherty & Wong 3-1 (11-4, 11-13, 11-6, 12-10) and Hamblett & Green defeated Howard Onweng & Baldwin 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-9).
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