A deal has been made between the University of Nottingham and British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) which will mean the BUCS Table Tennis Individual Championships will be hosted at the new £40m David Ross Sports Village, located on the University Park campus.
The first matches will be here as early as November (26th and 27th) and this is a great opportunity for the university to have such a prodigious event, in which 500 competitors took park last year, staged so early after the completion of the new sports village. Matches will include men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
The University of Nottingham has a rich history of student success when it comes to doubles, with just under half of last year’s finalists studying here, and perhaps even more impressively, the University of Nottingham can even boast of having Paralympic success, with English student Zhao Shuai picking up two Golds in Rio.
The University of Nottingham Men’s Table Tennis 1st team has finished first place in the BUCS Table Tennis Championship for the last three years running, and will hoping to make it a fourth year at the top in 2016-17.
The women’s 1st team have also enjoyed identical success, having won first placed for the last three BUCS Table Tennis Championships, with the men and women both defeating Nottingham Trent to do so.
Can both the men and women make it a historic fourth? The fact that the men have finished outside the top three of the Championships once, the women just twice in the last twelve years is a testament to the prowess of the University of Nottingham when it comes to table tennis.
A culmination of success on the court and the state-of-the-art new facilities persuaded BUCS to choose Nottingham to host the event for the next two years.
“With the new David Ross Sports Village opening this autumn we will be able to provide more space to cater for more entrants and therefore support the growth of table tennis within Higher Education”
An extremely proud Dan Tilley, Director of Physical Recreation and Sport at the University of Nottingham, said: ‘’The University of Nottingham has always prided itself on having a strong table tennis programme, and with our connections to China and Deng Yaping, we feel we offer unique environment to help table tennis players achieve their potential.”
He continued: “We therefore feel very honoured to have the chance to host the BUCS Table Tennis Individual Championships, and with the new David Ross Sports Village opening this autumn we will be able to provide more space to cater for more entrants and therefore support the growth of table tennis within Higher Education.’’
Lauren Heria, University of Nottingham Sports Officer, echoed this by adding that: ‘’We are delighted to welcome the BUCS Table Tennis Individual Championships into our new home for sport, the David Ross Sports Village, for the coming two years.
“We are extremely proud of our table tennis programme and the achievements of our student athletes so to be able to offer them the opportunity to compete on home turf against the top athletes in the university circuit is fantastic.”
The SU Sports Officer added: “I know our students will relish the chance to watch some top level table tennis, and I hope that by hosting this event it will inspire more of our students to take up table tennis whilst at university and beyond.’’
Good to see @UoNTT getting publicised around the University! @UoNSport @UoNSU ??? pic.twitter.com/MpTycjvJ4F
— Liam McTiernan (@liam_mctiernan) September 19, 2016
BUCS Event Coordinator for Table Tennis, Hayden Arrowsmith noted that, “To be responsible for one of the first national competitions hosted in the new facility is a unique honour. We’re excited about putting on a good show for all the competitors, and working with the University of Nottingham over the next two years to deliver an excellent event.’’
Words by Joe Robinson
Image courtesy of University of Nottingham Sport via flickr.com
Video courtesy of youtube.com
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