Liam Pitchford, Tom Jarvis and Anna Hursey go to the Europa Smash Bossyed by recent successes and looking for ranking points to continue their upward tracks.
The trio is in Malmo, Sweden, to compete in an arena that organized the Eurovision -Song festival last year, but this time contains top talent from all over the world – most of the respective men’s and ladies top 10s are present, including both world no. 1’s.
Jarvis and Wales’ Hursey start in the qualifying rounds, with World No 51 Pitchford (shown above) sown in the main table.
Jarvis, the 13th ranking in qualifying at WR 84, will be confronted with Alberto Mino (WR 143) from Ecuador. The couple is the same quadrant of the draw as Alvaro Robles from Spain (WR 64), the fourth highest player in qualifying.
Hursey (WR 71) is the highest ranked player in her part of the draw, in fourth place, and is signed against Jiamuwa Wu (WR 116) of Australia.
Follow the event on the WTT YouTube channel.
Pitchford, Jarvis and Hursey have prepared with a weekly camp in Spain, followed by another week in the Elite Training Center in Sheffield, in addition to leading players from Spain and Belgium.
Tom Jarvis: I know I can compete with the best
This year they can all draw on a few memorable performances to help them get the challenges for us-in the case of Jarvis his great run to the last 16 of the World Championships in Doha in May, the no. 10 Seed Dang Qiu of Germany and give China’s World No 5 Liang Jingkel a real fight.
“There is a big shift compared to the worlds and it showed the world, and more importantly, what I can achieve if I prepare well and I play my highest level there,” said Jarvis (WR 84).
“It has given me a lot of confidence to know that I can compete with people such as Liang Jingkun and Dang Qiu, who are both top 10 in the world – but also on the other hand I know how good everyone is. Everyone at a Smash becomes a very good player and although I have those versions, you cannot take similarities in the qualifying facility.
“I am in a great place now that I don’t have to worry about the qualification for the smashes, so now my attention is used to performing well to them instead of going the tour and trying to qualify for them.”
Malmo is a location that he knows well: “I am really excited to go back to Sweden, it was my home for six years and it is only 20 minutes away from where I lived. Almost like a home mis for me, so I am probably more excited for those that the others.”
Jarvis hopes that he will get the chance to hire one of the best Chinese players in a later round.
“I always think it’s fun to play against the Chinese – they are very good, but once you play against them, you feel the best qualities in the world and you can judge where you are,” he said.
Anna Hursey happy to have a solid training block
Hursey (WR 71) also starts in qualifying and is confident, after recently crowned the European champion under the age of 19, a title she added to her gold under 21 earlier this year.
She said: “The preparation has been really good. Normally we go from tournament to tournament, so it’s nice to have two or three weeks of training before you go there.
“Smashes are always fun to play, there are only four in a year, so always looking to try to play well – and there are many ranking points. The smashes are also quite difficult because everyone tries to play really well and every player is there.”
Liam Pitchford Feel in great condition
Pitchford will come in for the first round ‘right’ in the main drawing and says he feels in good condition after the training camps.
“We had a few good weeks in Spain and them here in Sheffield with the boys from Spain and Belgium,” said Pitchford.
“It is important to have such camps and it is nice to have a little more variation. We travel a lot and play a lot and it is nice to get a difficult exercise for a few weeks, because it is difficult during the season to find that time. So it was really good for me.
“I didn’t have much free time in the summer, but I feel in good condition – I am doing a new power and conditioning program with Dave Hembrough (from Sheffield Hallam University) – and I look forward to seeing what I can do.”
Pitchford took a big win over the Las Vegas Smash and beat World No 19 Chen Yuanyu from China before he went to Lee Sang Su (WR 30) from Zuid -Korea.
“It will be difficult, but I got some confidence from Las Vegas,” he said. “I was a bit disappointed not to take my chances against Lee Sang SU at 1-1 and 8-5, if I had won that match, it could have been different and it would have been an important profit ranking.
“But it gave me confidence (world no. 19) Chen Yuanyu, one of the Chinese national team players. I feel that I have played well there and the way I have practiced in recent weeks, I feel that I am in a better form than I was there.”
With China Smash at the end of next month on the Horizon, Pitchford will also notice the starter London in October.
He said: “It is in the copper box and I have great memories playing there in 2018, where I defeated Calderano and Harimoto (in the World Cup). It would be nice to play at that level again and for a home crowd, that is worth a few extra points per game.
“To make the best players in the world come across in the run-up to the world championships-it should be a great six months for English table tennis.”
John Murphy: We treat the smashes like a major
In Malmo with the three British players, Pathway and senior squad coach John Murphy is, and he also enjoys the chance.
“It’s the third Smash of the Year, but this one is a bit unique – we have been able to have a sustainable training period,” he said.
“There are four smashes – four of the largest events. In combination with the world championships, there are opportunities for points to go into the world ranking. Many available points, opportunity to get exposure, opportunity to go deep in the draw.
“We see it as a major – we want the best possible results. It’s a big chance for them.
“Success is good. The three athletes who go to Sweden have had a great year so far, Anna won two European titles and also goes more than 80 places in the world ranking; Tom, of course the run that he had in the worlds that players like Dang Qiu show that in an event like the Smash, No’s Safe comes to Tom.
“Pitch, how he played in Vegas, he is really back in the top and these Smash events come for him at a very good time. We got to know it with Pitch, he can go on a run. If pitch is in the quarterfinals, semi-final of those smashes, we would not have been surprised that capability.
“We don’t really fear anyone. Whether it is about players from Asia or Europe, or even Latin -America, we are comfortable to play against every style. It’s about taking it point by point, match by match.”
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