Four athletes who represented England at the home World Championships will again pull on the three leopards shirt at the upcoming Commonwealth Championships in India.
Connor Green, who featured in every England men’s match at OVO Arena Wembley, leads the squad alongside women’s mainstay Tin-Tin Ho.
They are joined by Jasmin Wong, who played against Japan, and Joseph Hunter, who was part of the men’s squad in London.
Also in the men’s squad are Shayan Siraj and Ben Piggott, while Anna Green and Mari Baldwin complete the women’s line-up
The squad will be coached by Carlo Agnello at the Championships, which take place in Delhi from 27 July to 2 August and are expected to include around 35 nations.
These are the first Commonwealth Championships since the 2019 edition in Cuttack, India, and run at the same time as the ‘slimmed-down’ Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which does not include table tennis.
Gavin Evans, Table Tennis England Director of Performance Development, said: “We’ve been very successful in Commonwealth Games in previous years, and we hope to be included in Commonwealth Games moving forward and continue our success, but the Commonwealth Championships for us is really about supporting the development of some of our athletes.
“Our team features Joseph Hunter and Connor Green, who were at the World Championships but are still relatively young in their careers, so it’s a big event for them in India and we want them to develop out there.
“Tin-Tin Ho and Jasmin Wong also were at the World Championships, and we want them to continue their good form playing in a big event where there’s a little bit of pressure and they can have some really good matchplay and continue their development.
“For Tin-Tin and Connor, I think medals could happen, but I think it’s more a development opportunity rather than something that we’re really hanging our hat on and trying to go out there and prioritise medals. It’s more about looking into the future, so we’ve got a bit of a mix in the team with some less experienced athletes.
“Part of our strategy across Britain is to build the depth as well. So, yes, we’ve taken Tin-Tin, who’s a real priority player of ours, as is Connor – but we also taken athletes who we see as being absolutely critical to building that depth across Britain to make us more successful.”
Ho has good memories from the Cuttack 2019 edition, where she was part of the squad, alongside Denise Payet and Emily Bolton, which won team silver after losing to hosts India in the final. Ho also earned bronze for reaching the Women’s Singles semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Ayhika Mukherjee.
England men (Tom Jarvis, Sam Walker, David McBeath) also won team silver behind India, with Jarvis collecting Men’s Singles bronze and Jarvis & Walker winning bronze in the Men’s Doubles.
India dominated the competition, winning all seven gold medals on offer – the first time a nation had swept the board since the 1983 edition, when Hong Kong did so. England claimed a clean sweep in the first three editions in 1971, 1973 and 1975.