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Image source, Getty Images

Reigning champion Liam Pitchford is looking to take his sixth national title in Nottingham this weekend. If he succeeds, he would join GB colleague Paul Drinkhall, England technical director Alan Cooke and former England international Denis Neale in second place on the list of all-time wins.

Seeded one and two in the singles, Pitchford and Drinkhall have work to do if they are to equal Desmond Douglas’s record of 11 singles titles in a career but the pair are nonetheless favourites to win the doubles title together – the pair have won the title six times already.

“It’s always nice to win the Nationals,” said Pitchford. “It’s nice to play in England in front of a home crowd and show people in England that we can play good table tennis.”

In the women’s, Tin-Tin Ho and defending champion Maria Tsaptsinos are the top two seeds in the singles and will also be pairing up for the doubles as top seeds, having won the title four times together in the last five years.

In the mixed doubles, Ho will partner third seed Sam Walker and Tsaptsinos will be paired with No.4 Tom Jarvis.

Image source, Getty Images

The Table Tennis National Championships consist of the best 32 players in the country, including Olympians, Paralympians and Commonwealth champions, battling it out in singles, doubles and Para events for the right to be called the National Champion.

Played out over three days, the singles tournament will be played out through a group stage format of eight matches with a best of five games before a knockout stage where the games are best of seven. Meanwhile, the doubles will be solely knockout ties which will be the best of five games. �鶹Լ�� Sport will be joining at the semi-final stage of each competition.

As for the Para categories, the matches will be played in two groups of three followed by knockout fixtures to the best of five games.

You can watch live coverage of the championships on �鶹Լ�� iPlayer and via the �鶹Լ�� Sport website and app, with all of the action available to watch again on the iPlayer.

Sunday 1 March

09:30-18:00 - Semi-finals & finals: �鶹Լ�� iPlayer, �鶹Լ�� Sport website & app

�鶹Լ�� Sport

As the name suggests, it's tennis... on a table. You can play singles or doubles and use bats to hit a light ball over the net and onto their opponents side of the table. You can see the full rules and regulations on the

Table tennis is suitable for every age and fitness level, and it's easy to find a place to play - with tables everywhere from parks to leisure centres, bars and shopping centres. You can even play at home - all you need is a ball, bats and a table.