Jarvis regains national title

Pictured are, from left, bronze medallists Shayan Siraj, Josh Bennett, Luke Savill and Jarvis. Photo: Alan Man.

Table tennis ace Jarvis was beaten 4-3 in last year’s final by Helshan Weerasinghe, but made no mistakes this time as he defeated Luke Savill 4-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7) to complete victory without dropping a set throughout the competition.

Jarvis admitted: “Last year I lost 4-3 in the final, so that motivated me to come here and put it right this year.

“I was feeling in a good place today.”

In the men’s singles, Jarvis was unfortunate to draw number three seed and Rio Olympian Sam Walker in the quarter-finals, but he traded blows with Walker for much of the match before succumbing 4-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8).

In the mixed doubles, Jarvis and Maria Tsaptsinos were the top seeds but were beaten in a tight semi-final by third seeds and eventual champions Josh Bennett and Tin-Tin Ho, going down 3-2 (8-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-9, 12-10).

Also in action was Skegness’s Darcie Proud.

In the women’s singles she went through to the knockout stages after topping her group with wins against Gracie Edwards (3-0) and higher-ranked Kate Hughes (3-1). This set up a last-16 match with the seventh seed Charlotte Bardsley, Bardsley winning 4-1.

In the under 21 singles Darcie was eliminated in the group stage despite a terrific start against fifth seed Mollie Patterson, who overturned Proud’s 2-0 lead to win 3-2.

Darcie was beaten in her first group match by the eventual bronze medal winner Jasmin Wong.

In the mixed doubles, Darcie and partner Joe Cope made it to the quarter finals whiel in the women’s doubles darcie and Anaya Patel were again eliminated at the quarter-final stage.