The first BUCS table tennis competition to fall under the Table Tennis England umbrella features a who’s who of talented young athletes.

Some 480 athletes will compete in singles and doubles across the coming weekend at the University of Nottingham.

There are no fewer than 68 Men’s Singles groups, with 65 of those featuring five competitors and three of them being groups of four. They are headed up by Ben Piggott, the top seed and silver medallist last year, who represents Sheffield Hallam.

Three of the top four seeds are from Sheffield Hallam, with Toby Ellis and Felix Thomis the other two. The latter won a bronze last year.

The exception in the top four is Nottingham’s Xinliang Sun, who is the defending Men’s Singles champion.

Hanming Lin, Harry Doherty, James Hamblett and Jonathan Mooney, all from Nottingham, are among the top 10 seeds, as are Nottingham Trent duo Ally Cornish and Adam Dennison. There are plenty more than capable players lower down the rankings.

In the Women’s Singles, defending champion Jiaqi Meng of Nottingham is the top seed and is followed by team-mates Sophie Earley and Mari Baldwin. The first non-Nottingham seed is fourth-ranked Mollie Patterson, a bronze medallist last year, who represents neighbouring Nottingham Trent.

Other Nottingham athletes in the top 10 include Jasmin Wong, Anna Green, Rachael Iles and Mabel Shute. The top 10 is rounded out by Patricia Ianau (University of East London) and Yat Sum Ma of Plymouth.

Piggott & Thomis were the only champions last year not to represent the University of Nottingham and they are back to defend their title as top seeds, ahead of Nottingham duo Sun & Lin.

Meng won Women’s Doubles gold last year alongside Tin-Tin Ho, who is no longer eligible – Earley is Meng’s new partner and they are the top seeds ahead of team-mates Baldwin & Wong.

Meng also won the Mixed last year to complete a personal clean sweep, alongside Robert Pelc. Again, her partner last year is not eligible and she teams up this time with Lin. Sun & Earley are the second seeds.

The doubles competitions start tomorrow, with the singles on Saturday and Sunday.

Click here to visit the BUCS website for more information.

The event attracts more than 450 competitors each year and has a fair claim to be the largest annual table tennis tournament in the UK.

In September, Table Tennis England and British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) strengthened their ties by agreeing to progress towards a Memorandum of Understanding to bring BUCS players under the TTE umbrella for the first time.

Table Tennis England will regulate the event to the same general requirements and broad regulations as a Senior 4* Tournament in terms of officiating and physical environment. The event will be bound by Table Tennis England sanctions and suspensions, as well as becoming eligible for national rankings, while we will also be able to engage and communicate with a wider cohort of players in higher education.