The 2023 European Games was a qualifying event for Table Tennis. The event was held at the Hutnik Arena in Kraków, a “sports and entertainment hall” attached to a football stadium that may be familiar to seasoned fans of British sport: England used it as a training camp for UEFA Euro 2012.
This only served as the European qualifier for Mixed Doubles, with one place available for Europeans. That is to say, the winners go to the Olympics. The event was from 23-26 June 2023.
The British pairing was Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho. Together, they won Commonwealth silver for England in both 2014 and 2018. Pitchford was also part of the world bronze winning England team from 2016.
They were seeded fifteenth, and in the Round of 16 faced number three seeds Ľubomír Pištej and Barbora Balážová from Slovakia. This was too big a hurdle, the Slovaks winning 11-6 5-11 11-5 11-8.
This will not be the last chance for the mixed doubles pairs, with a final qualification tournament yielding four places. This will take place in March-April 2024.
GB Games 