Anna Hursey and Lara Whitton are fast becoming the best of friends and the biggest of rivals as they rise through the ranks of Welsh table tennis.
The world learned about the prodigious talent of Cardiff High School student Hursey when she became the youngest Wales representative at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia at the age of 11.
She has since travelled further around the world to train and play despite her tender years and is currently ranked at No 5 in Europe and No 14 in the World at Under 15. Next month, she will join Charlotte Carey, Josh Stacey and Callum Evans in representing Wales at the European Senior Championships in Budapest – two months before her 13th birthday.
Not that Whitton is much older. The Swansea youngster is 14 and revealed what she is capable of at the Welsh Table Tennis Championships last weekend when she stripped Hursey of her Junior Girls (U18) title and then combined with clubmate Grace Clement to nick the Junior Girls Doubles from Hursey as well.
Whitton beat her big rival and international team mate 3-0 in the semi-finals of the singles and then beat Danielle Kelly by the same score in the final to win her biggest title to date. In the doubles, she joined Clement in defeating Hursey and Beth Richards in the final to take her second Junior Girls gold.
Not that Hursey went home empty handed – far from it! She gained ample revenge by turning the tables on Whitton by beating her in the semi-finals of the senior singles competition and outgunning her to win her third successive Cadet Girls (U15) singles title.
Hursey also beat her doubles partner Richards 4-1 in the U21 final. That made it 10 junior titles from U11-U21 levels for the soon-to-be teenager from Cardiff, which puts her on course to match or surpass the achievements of current Wales No 1, Carey.
In her junior days Carey scooped 15 singles titles in the same age groups and also added three doubles crowns. Currently ranked No 54 in Europe and 118 in the World, Carey met Hursey in the two senior finals.
In the singles final, Carey raced into a 3-0 lead before Hursey hit back to win the fourth set 11-9. Carey then finished things off to take her fifth senior title 4-1. She also added a seventh women’s doubles crown with Lauren Stacey, defeating Hursey and Richards in the final, and also won a seventh mixed doubles title in tandem with men’s singles champion, Callum Evans.
“I came to win three titles and they all mean a lot to me. I lost a bit of concentration after going 3-0 up in the singles final, but I always felt I would be able to pull it back without too much problem,” said Carey.
Evans, who headed off to Portugal the day after the championships ended to take part in the European Under 21 Championships in Porto, picked up his third Men’s Singles title as he beat Dean Cundy in straight sets, 11-2, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9.
He joined younger brother Louie in making it a hat-trick of Men’s Doubles titles for the Evanses, but had to exert a bit of seniority on his sibling as he beat him in the quarter-finals of the U21 singles. He reached that final, too, but failed to make it four in a row as he was upset by Para Singles champion, Josh Stacey.
Evans junior was also able to take home some extra silverware as he won the Cadet Boys (U15) title for the first time – a title his brother won back in 2013 – and he also combined with Joe Roberts to win the Boy’s Doubles crown.
Evans and Carey teamed up to make it a hat-trick of mixed doubles titles as they beat his brother and Beth Richards in the final.
Wales Table Tennis National Championships
Women Singles
Senior: Charlotte Carey beat Anna Hursey
Junior Women U21: Anna Hursey beat Beth Richards
U18: Lara Whitton beat Anna Hursey
Cadet U15: Anna Hursey beat Lara Whitton
U13 Sophie Barcsai beat Ruby Elliott
U11: Sophie Barcsai beat Seren Jones
Men Singles
Senior: Callum Evans beat Dean Cundy
Junior Men: Josh Stacey beat Callum Evans
U18: Benedict Watson beat Cade Short
Cadet U15: Louie Evans beat Rhys Hetherton
U13: Rhys Hetherton beat Evan Williams
U11: Harri Palfrey beat Toby Harwood
Women Doubles
Senior: Charlotte Carey / Lauren Stacey beat Anna Hursey / Beth Richards
Men Doubles
Senior: Callum Evans / Louie Evans beat Ryan Owen / Benedict Watson
Boys: Louie Evans / Joe Roberts beat Benedict Watson / Cade Short
Mixed Doubles
Charlotte Carey / Callum Evans beat Louie Evans / Beth Richards
Veterans
Men Singles
Vet 40: Neil Wright beat Lee Thomas
Vet 50: Mark Simon beat Mark Farrow
Vet 60: Ray Goulding beat Dennis Bromage
Vet 70: Dennis Bromage beat Colin Price
Men Doubles
Neil Wright / Steve Hall beat Lee Thomas / Mark Farrow
Disability Para Singles
Josh Stacey beat Paul Karabardak (Standing)
Cellan Hall beat Rob Davies (Wheelchair)