Chesterfield's Liam Pitchford back in England squad after injury
Chesterfield’s professional table tennis player hopes get ‘more matches under his belt and build his confidence’
Chesterfield’s Liam Pitchford is back in the England squad after missing almost a year with a hip injury.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Pitchford will compete in singles and doubles at the European Championships in Slovenia next month.
He missed last year’s European Team Championships and the home World Team Championships in London in May as he recovered from a major operation last year.
The 33-year-old is now back on the table and will continue his comeback at the WTT China Smash event at the start of October before heading to the Europeans, which start on Ljubljana on 11 October.
He will play in the men’s singles in Slovenia, as well as teaming up with Sam Walker in the men’s doubles.
Seven-time national champion Pitchford has been as high as No 12 in the world rankings and became the first English player to win an event on the WTT world tour when he took gold at WTT Feeder Manchester last year.
He said: “The main thing is to get more matches under my belt and build up my confidence, and this is a chance to do that. It will be nice to play doubles with Sam as well.”