David McBeath Included in Commonwealth Squad

Published 02/08/2018, 9:27 AM EST

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26-year old David McBeath has admitted that he was delighted to be named in the England table tennis squad for the Commonwealth Games in Australia. The 2018 Commonwealth Game is scheduled to begin on 4th April and run until 15th April. It will be the first time McBeath is participating in a multi-sport event. He joins compatriots Paul Drinkhall, Liam Pitchford and Sam Walker in the line-up in Gold Coast in April.

The Rownhams player said,“I’m buzzing and it’s my first time in Australia as well, so I’m looking forward to that. It’s been high up in my ambitions to compete at a Commonwealths, to be part of the team and contribute what I can.”

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In the 2016 World Team Championships, Drinkhall, Pitchford and Walker bagged bronze. This piece of news will undoubtedly boost his confidence but may also put him under pressure to add to the tally.

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He said: “I think we’ve got a very good chance in the team event. The guys have proved with the World Championships bronze that they can compete with anyone. I definitely think we can win gold. India have strength in depth, Singapore always have good players, Nigeria have (World No 20) Quadri Aruna and some other good players. But England have shown plenty of times we are good enough and have the quality to win gold.

He spoke about team spirit and the mutual respect outside table tennis. They have spent a lot of time around each other in the England team or playing abroad. McBeath grew up with the others and played alongside them in the cadets and juniors.

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David McBeath will be participating in the team event, the men’s doubles and the mixed doubles. Unfortunately, His world rank is not high enough for a singles berth. There is still a couple of months to go for the Commonwealth Games and McBeath is trying get as much practice as possible. To that end, he was named in the England squad for the Team World Cup scheduled in London in February.

He said: “I’m delighted to be selected and really excited to see the best in the world coming to London. It’s rare that you get such high-level table tennis so close to home and I’m sure my family will be coming to watch and a lot of people from the Waterside club in Southampton.”

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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