Joseph Sebatindira and Wan Suan Yong won the respective boys’ and girls’ Challenges as ITTF World Hopes Week came to an exciting end in Sheffield.

England’s Sai Prasanna Kumar and Isabella Xiao Xu picked up some good wins as they finished 13th and 12th respectively.

The Elite Training Centre hosted 34 of the world’s best under-12 players – 18 boys and 16 girls – plus their coaches from all over the world.

The week began with a training element, held over five intensive days, led by ITTF Head Coaches Eva Jeler of Australia and Nuria Castro of Spain, before finishing up with the two-day Challenge.

It was one big round-robin in each gender, with the boys playing 17 matches each and the girls 15 – a total of 273 matches overall played across the weekend.

Each match consisted of four games, with players receiving one point for each game won, contributing to the final league table.

Sebatindira, of Uganda, was the outstanding boy as he retained the title he won last year and lost only six of this 68 games across 17 matches.

New Zealand’s Lucas Alexandre was almost as dominant as Sebatindira as he lost only seven games. They met in the final round to decide the champion and, in a dramatic finish, Sebatindira won 3-1 (11-8, 6-11, 11-4, 12-10) to finish a point clear of Alexandre.

Sebatindira’s closest match was against Arthur Xian Xiao of France, who led 2-0 but saw Sebatindira hit back to level the match – the score was 9-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10.

Despite that performance, Xian Xiao finished fifth, with Lakshay Kumar of India third and Hachim Tifassi Idrissi of France fourth.

England’s Sai Prasanna Kumar finished in 13th place, winning 30 games and losing 38. His best performance was a 3-1 (10-12, 15-13, 11-5, 14-12) win over Tifassi Idrissi.

He also picked a 3-1 (12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8) victory against Daniel Casquero of Spain, a 4-0 (4, 3, 7, 6) win over Gabriel Utrilla Rimalova (Mexico), a 4-0 (5, 8, 9, 2) triumph over Rabeah Al-Kuwari (Qatar) and a 3-1 (6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6) win over Ryan Li (Ireland).

He drew 2-2 with Chothirun Nantachaiwut (Thailand), Juan Echavarria (Colombia), Samin Lora Morales (Peru) and Adam Lashin (Egypt).

In the girls’ competition, Malaysia’s Yong conceded only nine games out of 60 and finished six points clear of Bianca Toma of Romania, with Aadya Baheti of India in third.

Yong did not lose any matches but was held 2-2 (4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 2-11) by fourth-placed Zeina Farouk of Egypt and also drew with sixth-placed Kamilla Kadar of Finland – 11-7, 9-11, 13-15, 11-3 the score.

Xiao Xu won 22 of her 60 games, picking up a 3-1 (13-15, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9) win over Valeria Ortiz of Guatemala, a 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8) victory against Gia Kcomt Gamboa of Peru and a 3-1 (7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8) win over fourth-placed Farouk.

She also won 3-1 (11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8) against Yasmin Aranki of Guatemala, by the same margin (7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8) against Malaysia’s Yu Han Amabelle Chua, and 3-1 (6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 13-11) against Ezoza Xurazova of Uzbekistan. She drew 2-2 (11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13) against Finland’s Kadar.

As in previous years, players wre assessed on far more than match results. Technical ability, training attitude and approach to competition are all taken into account. The highest evaluated players will be selected for the Hopes Team, a fast-track into the High Performance pathway that unlocks scholarship support and additional funded training and competition opportunities.