11-year-old prodigy opens with table tennis win

GOLD COAST: Eleven-year-old table tennis prodigy Anna Hursey made her mark at the Commonwealth Games as she helped pull off a hard-fought doubles win for Wales on Thursday (Apr 5).

The schoolgirl, the youngest athlete at these Games and thought to be the youngest in the competition’s history, partnered with Charlotte Carey in the women’s team event.

Carey and Hursey were 2-0 up against India’s Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das before being pegged back to 2-2, but they grittily won the last game 13-11 to seal the match.

Although it was Wales’s lone success, as India won the three singles matches to take the tie 3-1, it was an important step forward for Hursey.

Standing just 1.60 metres tall, the Cardiff schoolgirl is known as a tenacious competitor, having already broken records by appearing at last year’s European championships.