All the headlines in Welsh table tennis this year have been grabbed by the now 12-year-old Anna Hursey for qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, but take a bow Wales No 1 Charlotte Carey for breaking the mould.
There may be no doubting the huge potential of Hursey, but Carey has just made history by becoming the first Welsh woman player to reach the top 100 in the world rankings in the current era.
Carey was the senior figure in the Welsh women’s contingent at the Gold Coast despite being only 21 at the time. That said, it was her third Games, having made her debut in Delhi in 2010 at only 14.
It has been a long, slow climb from the nether regions of the World rankings since then – she was No 685 in 2011 – but the latest ITTF Rankings have her listed at No 98. That is the second highest British player, a mere three places behind England’s Tin Tin Ho.
Despite losing in the first round of the Thailand Open in May, when she lost 4-3 to Korea’s Jimin Kim, Carey’s performances around the globe have pushed her to an all-time high. She is due to compete at both the Bulgarian and Czech Opens in August to try to rise even higher.
Welsh Players in ITTF World Rankings
Women
Charlotte Carey 98
Chloe Thomas 324
Anna Hursey 411
Beth Roberts 598
Men
Callum Evans 431
Josh Stacey 733
Dean Cundy 833
Dan O’Connell 920
While everyone sat up and took notice of the incredible story of Cardiff High School pupil Hursey, many forget that Carey has been blazing a trail for Welsh table tennis from almost as young an age and has been Welsh senior singles champion since she was 17.
The Ebbw Vale product moved away from home to Hungary and then Halmstad, in Sweden, to try to improve her game.
She has joined the German club ESV Weil, which has meant a massive amount of travelling for home matches – to Copenhagen in Denmark, on to Basel in Switzerland and then across the border into Germany.
“I think my biggest hurdle has been having to move abroad. In Wales, table tennis isn’t seen as a professional sport and we don’t have the facilities for full-time clubs or the money to pay players to create a good level league,” Carey has pointed out in the past..
“I moved away when I was 16 to try and get the training I needed to improve. With nothing other than table tennis to focus on, I trained for up to five hours a day as well as competing at weekends.
“It was full-on and every time I won, I’d push myself even harder to make sure my serve was quicker or my footwork tidier. I make enough money to live off, but it’s not an extravagant life.
“I’m paid £6,000 a year by ESV Weil, as well as receiving funding from Sport Wales, equipment from my sponsors and prize money, which can be anything up to £1,000 a tournament. As table tennis is such a minor sport in the UK, I’ll never be rich like football players are, but money isn’t my focus.
“I’ve set my sights on the 2020 Summer Olympics. It’ll take a huge amount of commitment, but I’m prepared to get to Tokyo whatever it takes.”
Fresh from an appearance with James Corden on ‘A League of Their Own’, Hursey, who is ranked 12th in the World Under 15 rankings, will be representing Wales at the 61st European Youth Championships in Romania later this month (15-21 July) in the Cadet Girls section. Wales face Holland, Austria and Scotland, while the Cadet Boys tackle Belarus, Holland and Georgia.
European Youth Table Tennis Championships
Welsh Teams
Cadet Boys: Ben Allen/Louie Evans
Cadet Girls Anna Hursey/Lara Whitton
Junior Boys: Josh Stacey/Yameen Al-Dahiri/Benedict Watson
Junior Girls: Grace Clement/Beth Richards/Lauren Stacey
Wales Draw
Cadet Girls – Holland, Austria & Scotland
Cadet Boys – Belarus, Holland & Georgia
Junior Girls – Holland, Estonia & Lithuania
Junior Boys – Austria, Finland, Denmark & Armenia