The European Team Table Tennis Championships in Malmö, Sweden, came to their conclusion on the 17^th of September, with Germany taking the women’s title, and Sweden taking home the men’s trophy in front of their home fans.

But despite the English team’s early exit from both competitions, England did have representation in the final through umpire Joshua Reynolds, who was named as one of the match officials for the men’s final (Joshua is pictured here, the match official on the far right)

It was a tense contest, with one of the biggest names in the sport, Germany’s Timo Boll, taking part, but the final score ended 3-1 to the hosts. But Joshua has plenty of international umpiring experience, so the prospect of a big occasion, such as this, didn’t phase him.

“I did the European Team Championships in 2019 in France so I had already had experience of doing a team championships where I did the Men’s final there also. This was my 4^th European Championships so I knew what to expect and how the event would unfold. Knowing that I was at the event for the full championships gives you some confidence as you know that the ETTU URC [Umpires and Referees Committee] believes in your abilities and skills to select you for the full event”

Given that Sweden were in the final, a really special atmosphere resonated in the arena, and this didn’t go unnoticed by Joshua.

“The final between Sweden and Germany could not have been written any better for the tournament organisers as it allowed them to sell out the arena for the final with over 4,000 people in attendance to cheer on Sweden. 

The match itself was of such a high standard and involved brilliant play. I was the umpire for the final match where Sweden won when Truls Möregårdh beat Timo Boll to win the title for Sweden sparking the celebrations from the crowd. The atmosphere at this point was electric inside the arena with every Swedish point won sounding like they had won the match”

He also spoke about the honour of being part of such a great team of officials, and paid tribute to the standard of umpiring.

“Many of the international umpires at the event I had met before and were friends with, so it was good to catch up with them. Some of them I had not seen for 10 years. All of the international umpires at the event were either Blue Badge or Gold Badge so it was a very high standard of officials. The experience is amazing as everything is planned down to the lowest detail which makes it an exciting place to be working”

Congratulations to Joshua, and the whole umpiring team on a very well run event.

Are you interested in getting involved in table tennis umpiring and refereeing? See opportunities and courses by clicking the button below.

And to re-watch the finals, as well as the earlier stages of the Euros, head on over to TTE.TV.