The Peterborough Evening Telegraph

Archway’s Anna wins a European bronze medal

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Archway Table Tennis Club’s emerging star Anna Hursey won an excellent bronze medal at a ‘top 10’ European Championsh­ip Under 15 event in Berlin over the weekend.

Anna ( 14) who recently moved to Peterborou­gh from Wales and joined the British League club was competing for the first time since lockdown and played beautifull­y.

The competitio­n featured the best under 15 (cadet) players in Europe and Anna’s splendid performanc­e confirmed that she is right up with the best.

She won all her round robin matches and finished with a very creditable 7- 2 win-loss record, only missing out on second place on games difference.

Things could have been even better had there not been a mix up with her coach’s pretravel compulsory Covid-19 test which denied Anna tactical advice and experience.

Knowing when to call‘ time out’ can be critical and the difference between a win or a loss.

Anna’ s only two losses were against the German winner, Annett Kaufman (12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 7-11) and silver medallist from France Charlotte Lutz (411, 11-5, 9-11, 5-11).

Anna finished the competitio­n very strongly to come back from 0-2 down to beat fifth placed Helena So mm er ova of the Czech Republic (9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-1).

Anna was 12 when she became the youngest ever athlete to represent Wales at senior level in the 2018 Commonweal­th Games.

She will now return to practice at the Archway Academy before her next engagement­s in Finland and Portugal.

Anna can still play at under 15 level next year when she will be aiming for European gold.

She will also be pushing for inclusion in GB Olympic squads.

Her father Larry Hursey said: “Anna did well to win the bronze under the circumstan­ces and learnt a lot from the experience.

“Hopefully her game will develop further to enable her to aim for gold next year.”

 ??  ?? Anna Hursey (right) on the podium in Berlin,
Anna Hursey (right) on the podium in Berlin,

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