Young GB pathway players in China for ‘crucial’ training blocs

August 28, 2025 | Paul Stimpson

A group of young GB pathway athletes have travelled to China for a bloc of intensive training geared to elevating their technical and tactical games.

Connor Green, Kacper Piwowar, Abraham Sellado, Max Radiven and Dimitar Dimitrov from England, alongside Gavin Yuan of Scotland, are in the group, which also includes established star Tin-Tin Ho and coach Carlo Agnello.

They are based in Zhengzhou in Henan Province, where they practise every day at a table tennis school, alongside players from the province team. They have also practised against players from Hunan Province.

The trip is one of two training blocs of three to four weeks in Asia organised for pathway players, once in August and one in December.

Carlo said with the WTT calendar, leagues and school all placing demands on the young players, solid blocs of training like this are invaluable.

He said: “We don’t always have a lot of time for structured practice over a longer period of time, that’s why these two training blocs are crucial for the development of our younger players so we can improve certain aspects of their game, whether it is technical or tactical.

“There is a big variety of players and standards are very high.”