Basingstoke’s Anaya Patel won a brilliant golden double in table tennis at the Mark Bates Ltd Cadet, Under-17 & Junior National Championships.

The 18-year-old, who plays at the Kingfisher club in Reading, won the blue riband Junior Girls’ Singles event to add to the Junior Girls’ Doubles title she took earlier in the day with partner Millie Rogove.

Patel was fourth seed in the singles and cut a swathe through the top junior (under-19) players in the country to win the title.

Having surprisingly finished second in her group as a result of a defeat to Anna Green, she turned up the power to beat all three higher-ranked seeds during the knockout stage, starting with third seed Jasmin Wong, who she overcame 3-2 (11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7) in the quarter-finals.

She then sunk top seed Mari Baldwin 3-1 (11-7, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8) in the semis, going on to lift the trophy with a 3-1 (11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 13-11) victory over second seed Amy Marriott in the final.

Basingstoke Gazette: Anaya Patel with the trophy. Pic by Michael LovederAnaya Patel with the trophy. Pic by Michael Loveder

In the doubles, top seeds Baldwin & Marriott were the opposition in the final, and a tight match went the way of Patel & Rogove 3-0 (12-10, 14-12, 11-8).

The only blemish on the weekend was a last-16 defeat in the Mixed Doubles, alongside Tom Rayner, going down 3-1 (11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 11-6) to James Hamblett & Isabelle Lacorte.

Patel was quick to thank Kingfisher coach Ajay Naik, and the rest of the club, for helping her in her rise to the top.

She said: “Double national champion, it feels good! I lost one of my matches in the group stage and had to recover from that and think about taking each match as it comes.

“Thanks to Ajay and everyone at Kingfisher, training with them all the time and having Ajay as a good coach in the corner.”

On the doubles success with Rogove, she added: “We train together, so we know each other’s game quite well, and we have good communication as well.”