Worthing 2* sees youngsters shine

October 27, 2025 | Matt Porter

On a day where table tennis players were spoilt for choice with the WTT Star Contender London, The London Academy Junior 4* and the Worthing 2* all to choose from, the Worthing 2* still kicked off with a full billing for players along the south coast.

First up were the U11s and in Group 1 straight away we saw the first shock of the day as unranked Chris Charley (Sy) beat top seed Raphael Church (K).

Second seed Yuxuan Wu (Wo) made light work of his group winning without dropping a set to take his place in the knockout.

The semi-finals saw Chris beat Harvey Keelyside (Sx) with a 3-0 scoreline but wasnâ€t as simple as it sounds with two deuce sets, while the other semi saw the top two seeds do battle, Raphael and Wu, in a very impressive match which ended 13-11 in the fourth to Raphael.

This set up a repeat of the group stage with Chris vs Raphael and this time saw Raphael come out on top, winning 3-1 and taking home the title.

The plate event saw another cracking final with Oscar Liu overcoming Harry Whitmore three games to one.

The under-11s medallists with Table Tennis England Chair Clare Briegal

In the Cadet Boys, Naivedya Agarwal (Mi) took full advantage of the draw to reach the final having overcome Worthingâ€s Vincent Ridley in the semi-finals. His opponent in the final was second seeded Ollie Hensell (Ha) who had beaten fourth seed Elliot Brackbury (E) in his semi-final. The final saw Ollie came out as the winner in three straight games

The plate event was an all-Kent affair with Aayush Patil beating Harry Speller 3-0.

The Cadets winner and runner-up with Clare Briegal

The Under-13s decided to ignore the seedings and plan their own route through the draw. Second seed Kayden Gallagher (Sy) was on the wrong end of five-setter with Raphael Church, putting him into the top half of the draw, while third seed Freddie Unwin was unlucky to find himself in the plate event.

The semis saw top seed William Grant (Mi) face off against second seed Kayden Gallagher, with Grant taking the spoils. The bottom half saw a real Hollywood match with Raphael Church just missing out on a second final to Aayush Patil 12-10 in the fifth.

The final saw Will Grant justify his top seed position with a win, but needing all five sets to claim the title.

The plate event was won by Ellenbroughâ€s Elias Amin (Mi), beating double finalist Chris Charley, with Worthingâ€s Max Lee (Sx) and Ebatts Freddie Unwin (K) in bronze positions.

The under-13s medallists with Table Tennis England Director and Worthing TTC’s Sally Hughes

Freddie Unwin did win the hearts and minds of the organisers and a special prize to boot with a moment of pure sportsmanship. When, in a tight game, a shot looped up and bounced and started to come back over the net, when Freddie lunged to try and hit it, once the ball had bounced no one was really sure what had happened – had Freddie hit it or not? Without a moment’s hesitation Freddie said he hadn’t hit and it was his opponent’s point..

Last but not least to the table were the juniors with somewhat of an international feel as Jersey juniors Theo De Poerck and Callum Allaway contested a fantastic final.

Theo reached the final by defeating Worthingâ€s James Fryer (Sx) in the quarters and William Eversham (E), who had beaten second seeded James Roberts (Do), in the semi-final.

Callum defeated Kostiantyn Motovillin (Sy) in his quarter-final before beating Cadet champion Ollie Hensell (Ha) in the semis. 

The final saw Theo take his second Worthing Junior title in a row, having also won back in August, coincidentally also beating a Jersey team mate that time too. This time he saw off Callum in a close five-set match.

The junior plate saw Naivedya Agarwal reach his second final, this time coming away with the gold by beating Harrison Padley (Sx), who had beaten Worthingâ€s Matthew Dyche (Sx) in the semi, while Luke Higginson (Sy) was the other losing semi-finalist.

The Junior medallists with Sally Hughes

Off the table, the day saw the clubâ€s focus on umpire recruitment come into play with five umpires in action, James Pettigrew an experienced umpire having been umpiring up and down the country for many years was joined by newer L1 umpires Marc Ghosh, Holly Holder and Juan Da Silva along with trainee umpire Mark Howell, meaning almost all knockout round matches were supervised by umpires. A big thanks to all of the volunteers on the day.

The officials and volunteer team from Worthing TTC

The full results can be found on the results booklet here.

Up next on the Worthing TTC calendar is the Christmas Training Camp on 27 December and a 1* Banded Tournament on 28 December, hosted at sister club Hollingbury TTC in Brighton. Both events can be entered online at www.worthingttc.com/events – or to enter the 28 December 1* via the Table Tennis England website you can find the form here.

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