Table Tennis Star Impresses

Shiplake College’s own table tennis star and computer coding whizz Jamie Liu has taken another step forward with his co-curricular talents, this time heading to Luxembourg over Easter to attend the Eurotalents Hopes Selection Camp. Jamie, a keen table tennis player, has already been making waves throughout the sporting world, having been awarded a Reading Sports Personality of the Year award earlier this year. Jamie has now set his sights on a world championship, to be hold in Doha, Qatar.

The trial took place at the Institut National des Sports on Rue de Treves. Jamie was competing for one of three Europeans boys nominations to join the total of 16 boys and 16 girls at the 2016 ITTF World Hopes Week and Challenge, in Doha. 17 boys from 10 European countries were put through their paces during a week of intensive training, taking part in competitions with the help of Chinese sparring partners and lead coaches from the China Table Tennis College, including the former Chinese national coach Li Xiaodong, and former silver medallist in mixed doubles Feng Zhe.

All the participants were assessed against the seven selection criteria, which are set by the ETTU. These include a variety of skills, such as speed, timing, anticipation, service, return and training. The final hurdle took the form of a full match-play tournament against each other. Jamie will join Simon Belik (winner of the 2015 Eurominis in France) and Eric Huzsvar in Doha for the competition, along with three girls Elina Zaharia, Daria Vasilenka and Hana Arapovic.

The competition, which is taking place at the Torch Hotel, Aspire Academy, in Qatar, will be a huge landmark for Jamie, and selection for the challenge is fantastic; all at Shiplake College wish him the very best of luck! Director of Sport Mr James Gaunt commented that ‘Jamie is a remarkable pupil. He has an outstanding sporting talent which, hand in hand with his fantastic attitude, are taking him to the top of the table tennis game at such a young age.’