Liam Pitchford, the fourth seed in qualifying, has been drawn against Borgar Haug of Norway. The 22 year old left hander is currently number 87 in the world rankings. He has won a host of Norwegian national titles in both singles and doubles, and represents reigning German Bundesliga champions, Borussia Düsseldorf alongside Timo Boll, Dang Qiu and Anton Källberg. A win for Pitchford would see him face either Slovenia’s Lubomir Pistej or Brazil’s Eric Jouti, who play at about 5:55am (GMT) on Thursday.
Liam will take on Haug on Thursday at approximately 12:55pm GMT.
Tom Jarvis, a wildcard entry into the event, has been handed a very difficult opening round draw against Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting, who has been given the number 2 seeing for qualifying. The 33 year old has a slew of bronze medals from the World Championships, World Cup, and Asian Championships, with most coming from mixed doubles. He currently sits at 40 in the world, and dramatically saved seven match points in the men’s singles final at the 2024 WTT Feeder Varazdin to win the title.
Jarvis will play Wong at approximately 3:35am GMT on Friday 31st January. Should he win, a tie against Brian Afanador of Puerto Rico or Panagiotis Gionis awaits.
Welsh superstar and Paris 2024 Olympian, Anna Hursey is also taking part in the qualifying draw, and will face Constantina Psihogios of Australia, currently number 116 in the world and aged only 16. Their match will take place at approximately 4:10am GMT on Thursday 30th January.
Should Anna win, she will face either wildcard Chloe Lai of Singapore, or number 15 seed Zhu Yuling of Macao.
Upcoming fixtures
Men’s Singles
Qualifying round one
30th January 2025
Liam Pitchford vs Borgar Haug (NOR) – 12:55pm GMT – Table 2
31st January 2025
Tom Jarvis vs Wong Chun Ting (HKG) – 3:35am GMT – Table 2
Women’s Singles
Qualifying round one
30th January
Anna Hursey (WAL) vs Constantina Psihogios (AUS) – 4:10am GMT – Table 3