Six English hopefuls travelled out to Guangzhou, China for the World Team Table Tennis Championships. Selection favoured youth over experience as our current crop of top young talent set out to take on the best the world could offer.

Fighting hard on foreign soil, both of our teams improved on their positions from Bremen in 2006. Surprisingly, however, on this occasion it was the women’s team that stole the limelight with some exceptional displays of talent.

Men
With some excellent performances throughout the tournament, the men’s team defeated some high calibre and much higher ranked opposition to improve from 32nd to 30th position. Top player Paul Drinkhall won 12 of his 14 games, with Darius Knight taking 5 from 10 and, although Danny Reed only managed 1 win from the 8 games, he pushed every opponent to their limits reinforcing the selectors’ decision and underlining his undoubted potential.

Women
Finishing the tournament as champions of division two the women’s squad of Kelly Sibley, Joanna Parker and Emma Vickers provided a glittering display of talent, determination and passion in what could be the turning point for the women’s team. Under the guidance of coach Alan Cooke, the team dominated in one of the toughest environments of world table tennis, ensuring promotion to the top division for the 2010 World Championships in Moscow.

With so much action taking place below is a brief round-up of how our teams reached their final positions.
 
The Group Stages
Both teams performed really well and qualified as top seeds. The women managed to maintain a 100% record and the men’s sole defeat came at the hands of Canada (3-2).

Men
The top men’s match of the group stages had to be when unbeaten Canada went up against unbeaten England, something had to give. Game 1 Paul Drinkhall against Shen Qiang, Paul dropped the first set but stormed through taking the next three to put England one up.

Next, Darius Knight to face the other Canadian Chinese, world no 120 Zhang Peng, first set went to Darius, but the Canadian raised his game and took the next three sets to level the match score at 1-1.

Third up Danny Reed against Pradeeban Peter-Paul. Going into the fifth 2-2, the usual Danny storming finish seemed to be in full swing as he stood 10-8 ahead with two of his own serves to come, however, after two attempted backhand loops that caught the top of the net, the Canadian capitalised, taking the first two deuce points: 2-1 to Canada.

Paul returned to the fray against Zhang Peng, making nothing of a 120+ position difference in world rankings, taking the game 3-0 and levelling the match at 2-2.

The final game of the match was Darius against Shen Qiang, what a crazy game this was, Darius 10-0 down in the first and lost 11-1, next game 11-4 to Darius, with the third also going to Darius 11-9. However it was not to be, as the talented Shen Qiang took advantage of Darius' poor starts in several sets and claimed the last two for a 3-2 win in the game and an overall 3-2 victory for Canada.

Women
For the women their toughest match was against Australia, however, thanks to two wins by Joanna Parker and one from Kelly Sibley, England crept through to take victory 3-2.

Results:

Group Stages
Day 1
Men
England bt. Australia 3-0
Darius Knight bt. William Henzell
7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7
Paul Drinkhall bt. David Zalcberg
11-7, 12-14, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4
Danny Reed bt. Kyle Davis
11-6, 11-5, 11-3

Women
England bt. Estonia 3-1
Joanna Parker bt. Tatjana Tshistjakova
12-10, 11-4, 11-6
Kelly Sibley bt. Marina Morozova
11-6, 7-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-6
Karin Lindmae bt. Emma Vickers
6-11, 11-4, 11-8, 3-11, 11-6
Kelly Sibley bt. Tatjana Tshistjakova
7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7

England bt. India 3-1
Joanna Parker bt. Mouma Das
11-6, 11-8, 13-11
Kelly Sibley bt. Poulomi Ghatak
9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8
Neha Aggarwal bt. Emma Vickers
11-5, 11-7, 11-2
Joanna Parker bt. Poulomi Ghatak
11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4

Day 2
Men
England bt. Nigeria 3-1
Darius Knight bt. Segun Toriola
11-9, 11-7, 11-9
Paul Drinkhall bt. Kazeem Nosiru
11-4, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9
Monday Merotohum bt. Danny Reed
6-11 13-15 11-8 13-11 11-3
Paul Drinkhall bt. Segun Toriola
13-11, 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 14-12

Canada bt. England 3-2
Paul Drinkhall bt. Qiang Shen
8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8
Peng Zhang bt. Darius Knight
3-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-7
Pradeeban Peter-Paul bt. Danny Reed
11-13, 3-11, 11-3, 11-7, 12-10
Paul Drinkhall bt. Peng Zhang
11-7, 11-9, 11-4
Qiang Shen bt. Darius Knight
11-1, 4-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8

Women
England bt. Australia 3-2
Jian Fang Lay bt. Kelly Sibley
11-9, 8-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-7
Joanna Parker bt. Miao Miao
11-9, 11-9, 11-6
May Cho (Yuen-Wern) bt. Emma Vickers
7-11, 16-14, 8-11, 10-12
Kelly Sibley bt. Miao Miao
12-10, 5-11, 6-11, 14-12, 14-12
Joanna Parker bt. Jian Fang Lay
11-7, 12-10, 11-6

Day 3
Men
England bt. Israel 3-1
Paul Drinkhall bt. Yaniv Sharon
11-9, 11-8, 11-5
Darius Knight bt. Omry Ben-Ari
8-11 11-8, 12-10, 11-6
Shimon Rabinovich bt. Daniel Reed
11-9, 17-15, 12-10
Paul Drinkhall bt. Omry Ben-Ari
11-9, 11-9, 13-15, 11-6

Women
England bt. Denmark 3-2 
Kelly Sibley bt. Mie Jacobson
11-8, 11-2, 11-2
Mie Skov bt. Joanna Parker
11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10
Pernille Agerholm bt. Emma Vickers
15-13, 11-13, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11
Kelly Sibley bt. Mie Skov
9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 13-11
Joanna Parker bt. Mie Jacobson
11-1, 11-1, 11-1

Day 4
Men
England bt. Bulgaria 3-2
Konstantin Parapanov bt. Darius Knight
11-7 11-9 11-5
Paul Drinkhall bt. Teodor Yordanov
10-12, 19-17, 12-10, 12-14, 11-4
Gordan Grozdanov bt. Danny Reedl
14-12, 11-3, 8-11, 11-8
Paul Drinkhall bt. Konstantin Parapanov
12-10, 11-6, 14-16, 11-8
Darius Knight bt. Teodor Yordanov
11-8, 11-5, 14-12

Women
England bt. Indonesia 3-1
Joanna Parker bt. Christine Ferliana
5-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8
Kelly Sibley bt. Nilasari Ceria
11-5, 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10
Emma Vickers lost to Silir Rovani
9-11, 3-11, 14-16
Joanna Parker bt. Nilasari Ceria
11-4, 11-4, 11-9

Main Draw
Having made it through as top qualifiers both English teams got a bye in the first match, jumping straight into the fight for positions 25-32.

Men
The men's team could not match the success of the women, going out in their first match of the main draw against the Ukraine, with an identical score to their previous encounter at the World Championships in Bremen, 3-1.

After that defeat the women marched on undefeated, whilst the men went into the play-offs for positions 29-32. Successfully beating Turkey 3-1, but then in the battle for 29th and 30th they lost out to Brazil 3-0, resulting in 30th place overall, two positions higher than at the last championships.

Ukraine bt. England 3-1
Aleksandr Didukh bt. Darius Knight
11-6, 11-6, 14-12
Paul Drinkhall bt. Ivan Katkov
11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8
Lei Kou bt. Danny Reed
13-11, 4-11, 6-11, 14-12, 11-6
Aleksandr Didukh bt. Paul Drinkhall
11-8, 11-8, 11-9

Position 29-32 play offs
England bt. Turkey 3-1
Paul Drinkhall bt. Hasan Dogan
11-6, 11-6, 11-9
Darius Knight bt. Gencay Menge
11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 15-13
Pengfei Jiang bt. Danny Reed
11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9
Paul Drinkhall bt. Gencay Menge
15-17, 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 11-1

Position 29-30 play offs
Brazil bt. England 3-0
Gustavo Tsuboi bt. Paul Drinkhall
4-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-2
Thiago Monteiro bt. Darius Knight
11-5, 9-11,11-6,11-4
Cazuo Matsumoto bt. Danny Reed
11-4,5-11,11-3,11-3

Women
The women’s last match of Day 4 (their first of the main draw) was always going to be a hard one, as the Luxembourg team is headed by World no. 39 Ni Xia Lian, with Kelly Sibley being our top ranked player at no. 232.
Ni Xia Lian despatched Joanna Parker 3-1 and then Kelly repeated the same scoreline winning against Simone Haan.
Third match Emma Vickers against Carole Hartmann, Emma dominated the first set winning 11-4, but unfortunately, the Luxembourg coach put a stop to that, concentrating everything on the Vickers backhand, the difference was astounding and Emma never got on top again. 
So with both number two players defeated, it was time for the clash of the team leaders, nobody told Kelly she couldn't do it! The Luxembourg Chinese is a penhold blocker/hitter who twiddles between longer and short pimples up close to the table, in short a nightmare to play against. Ni Xi Lian won the first easily, but from then on Kelly ruled the day, winning the second 11-6, she lost a close third set, but after that she demonstrated superb, controlled aggression and Ni Xi Lian just could not dominate, as she likes to. Fourth set 11-6 and fifth set 11-7 to Kelly Sibley for the win of her career to date and of course it brought the match score back to 2-2 and everything had changed.

Final game, Joanna Parker against Simone Haan, Haan fought all the way but Joanna was chopping and hitting superbly, mainly at the right times and a three straight set victory sealed the match for England 3-2.

England bt. Luxembourg 3-2
Ni Xia Lian bt. Joanna Parker
11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-2
Kelly Sibley bt. Simone Haan
11-6, 9-11, 14-12, 11-1
Carole Hartmann bt. Emma Vickers
4-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7
Kelly Sibley bt. Ni Xia Lian
4-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6
Joanna Parker bt. Simone Haan
11-6, 11-9, 11-7

Division 2 semi-final - position 25-28 play offs
England V Canada

It was close between the Canadian and English women. Entering the third game at 2-1 down to Canada, with Joanna Parker 7-2 down in the third after losing the first two sets, things weren’t looking promising, it was at this point that she dug deep and turned it around, taking the set 11-7 before winning the next two and the game.

Kelly then returned for the last game to continue her dominance and help the women progress into the final.

England bt. Canada 3-2
Judy (Zhu) Long bt. Joanna Parker
11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8
Kelly Sibley bt. Mo Zhang
7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5
Sara Yuen bt. Emma Vickers
11-2, 11-4, 11-8
Joanna Parker bt. Mo Zhang
2-11, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-7
Kelly Sibley bt. Judy (Zhu) Long
11-3, 11-9, 20-18

Division 2 final - position 25-26 play offs
England v Slovak Republic

Kelly Sibley started proceedings against Barbora Balazova and in a well fought game she took the win by 3 sets to 1.

Joanna Parker, however, found the youthful talents of the top Slovak junior Jana Medrikova just too powerful, well spun and consistent, and although Joanna took the third set, the Slovak always had the edge.

The Slovak Republic played their strongest player Lenka Kmotorkova, in world ranking terms at least, at no 3 against Emma Vickers, Emma as usual came close in the first game, but lost it on deuce and after that the Slovak player dominated. That made the match score 1-2 to Slovak Republic.
Coming into the fourth game Kelly was not at her sharpest after such a long and gruelling competition, but she summoned the strength and power to take the first two sets against Jana Medrikova, the third set was controlled by the Slovak teenager and the fourth was a real dogfight in which Kelly came out on top at deuce. Match score 2-2.

Joanna's turn again to win the final game for a team win, and it looked all the way that another superb performance would seal the match easily as Joanna took the first two sets against Barbora Balazova, but the Slovak was becoming more and more effective especially off a high ball; the third and fourth sets went to Balazova. Onto a tremendous fifth set, Joanna led early but was pegged back, she then proceeded to produce some of her best attacking and defensive play of the whole week to take the final game 11-7 and with it the Division 2 Championship.

England bt. Slovak Republic 3-2
Kelly Sibley bt. Barbora Balazova
11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8
Jana Medrikova bt. Joanna Parker
11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7
Lenka Kmotorkova bt. Emma Vickers
12-10, 11-4, 11-7
Kelly Sibley bt. Jana Medrikova
11-9, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10
Joanna Parker bt. Barbora Balazova
11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7