Paul Drinkhall has some of the world’s top players in his sights as he returns to the ITTF World Tour circuit this week for the first time since his memorable April win in Spain.
The 24-year-old England No 2 is playing in Ekaterinburg, Russia from tomorrow until Sunday, before heading to Stockholm next week.
As well as adding to his Spanish title, the Loftus player has the added incentive of qualifying for the season-ending Grand Finals in Bangkok in December.
He is currently 11th in the standings, with 15 players to qualify, and will have played in the minimum required five events after Russia and Sweden.
Drinkhall is seeded 22 in Russia, with the list headed by World No 5 Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany and No 7 Jun Mizutani of Japan.
The field in Sweden is even stronger, with no fewer than six top-10 players slated to appear – five from powerhouse China, plus Ovtcharov.
Drinkhall is unseeded for that event and will have to play in the group stages.
But he is confident he can punch above his weight and achieve some head-turning results as the only English player who can qualify for the Grand Finals.
“Russia is a strong tournament but I’ll be among the seeds – I think I’m 22, which is similar to when I won in Spain,” he said.
“But the top seeds are stronger in Russia.
“I’ve been playing well in the Belgian League and hopefully I can take that form into Russia and get some good wins and make progress.
“Sweden is stronger than Russia, so I’ll be playing in the groups and having to qualify for the knockouts.
“But if I can keep up my good form, there’s no reason I can’t get through the group and take out some seeds. Qualifying for the Grand Finals is the target.”
No comments:
Post a Comment