Chesterfield’s Liam Pitchford is double national champion again

Liam Pitchford is the national Men’s Singles Champion for the sixth time after successfully defending his title at the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships.

The Chesterfield star beat fellow Olympian and second seed Paul Drinkhall in the final, recovering from 2-0 down to fight back and win 4-2.

The title moved him joint second on the all-time list, level with Drinkhall, Alan Cooke (also from Chesterfield) and Denis Neale, though still five behind the legendary Desmond Douglas.

Top seed Pitchford said: “It feels amazing. I’m on the same amount as plenty of good players, so the next step is to keep winning.”

“At the start I don’t think I played that bad. He was playing really well. Even throughout the whole match I think we both kept a good level. I had a bit of luck at the end of the fifth set and it can change matches. It was a few points here or there today and it went my way.”

Pitchford had earlier defeated another Rio Olympian, third seed Sam Walker, 4-1 in the semi-finals.

He was given a tough match by Junior national champion Ethan Walsh in the last 16, twice trailing before coming back to win 4-2, while his quarter-final was a more straightforward 4-0 margin over seventh seed Helshan Weerasinghe.

In the Men’s Doubles, Commonwealth Games gold medallists Pitchford & Drinkhall won the title for the seventh time, missing a match point in the third game but eventually getting past Walker & Tom Jarvis 3-2.

Pitchford has little time to enjoy his triumph, however, as he is competing at the Qatar Open this week.

Photo credit: Alan Man