Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall could line up against each other in the Men’s Doubles semi-finals after the draws for the Mark Bates Ltd Senior National Championships.

The group stages for the Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and the para competitions, plus the doubles are released today in preparation for the tournament at the University of Nottingham next weekend.

In response to demand, we have made more tickets available for Members’ Day on Friday, when Table Tennis England members get in free – click here to sign up. Admission is £9 for non-members.

Pitchford & Drinkhall is a familiar combination to Nationals fans, having won the Men’s Doubles title together no fewer than eight times, most recently in 2023.

They were unable to defend the title last year as Pitchford was competing on the WTT circuit, but Drinkhall won again, in partnership with Sam Walker.

This year, Drinkhall & Walker, who start their defence against Gabriel Achampong & Victor Guang Shi, are in the same half of the draw as Pitchford & Ash Facey, with the pairs scheduled to meet in the semi-finals.

Pitchford and Drinkhall have met in doubles at the Nationals before, including in the match which gave Pitchford his first senior title, when he & Gavin Evans beat Drinkhall & Darius Knight in 2010. Drinkhall & David McBeath beat Pitchford & Walker in 2018 but the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallists have not been on opposing sides of the net in doubles since then.

Tom Jarvis & McBeath are second seeds and start against the intriguing combination of Shayan Siraj & Paralympic medallist Billy Shilton.

Elsewhere in the draw, last year’s beaten finalists, Joseph Hunter & Larry Trumpauskas, start against Josh Bennett & Robert Pelc.

The Women’s Doubles sees 11 pairs in action, and a new combination will lift the trophy on Finals Day. Tin-Tin Ho won with Emily Bolton last time, but Bolton is not playing, so Ho teams up with Jasmin Wong. They meet Holly Holder & Sally Hughes in their first match.

The second seeds are Mari Baldwin & Tianer Yu, who await the winners of a clash between Rachael Iles & Anna Piercey and Anisha Rasan & Millie Rogove.

The winning Mixed Doubles pair from 2024 is also broken up, with Sam Walker not featuring. Ho, the other half of the winning team, will play with Jarvis instead and they start against Pelc & Sophie Earley. Second seeds Hunter & Yu face Artur Veeck Caltabiano & Erin Green.

The para groups see Paralympic medallists as the top seeds in every group – Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton in the Class 2-5 competition, and Aaron McKibbin and Billy Shilton in the two Class 6-10 groups. The group winners will meet on Finals Day in both competitions.

The group stage for the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles has also been drawn – the tournament gets under way with those matches from 1pm on Friday 21 March.

The draw for the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles knockout stage will be live streamed on our Facebook channel on the morning of the tournament, Friday 21 March, at 11am. Check nearer the time for more details.

Group stages

Knockout stages

Men’s Doubles

Women’s Doubles

Mixed Doubles