Guernsey Press

'Ally Pally' excites CI champ Paul

HE IS relishing the chance to play at the 'Ally Pally', but Paul Hainsworth admits it will be difficult to make inroads at the World Championship of Ping Pong.

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The 2017 edition of the annual competition takes place this weekend, with Hainsworth the Ravenscroft Channel Islands representative as reward for his victory in November's local qualifier.

It will be 28-year-old Hainsworth's debut at the event and he could not have been handed a much harder start – an opening group game against No. 5 seed Lubomir Pistej.

The Slovakian is a former semi-finalist and multiple quarter-finalist at the 64-player event and, should he win, it would leave Hainsworth immediately on the brink of an exit.

The unique format means that, rather than play everybody else in your eight-player group, you are eliminated if you lose two group matches.

'It is pretty cut-throat and it means that the draw is really important, so it isn't the best draw for me coming up against one of the top seeds first up,' said Hainsworth.

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