Charlotte Bardsley, a first-year History and Politics student at Sidney Sussex, won silver in the individual event at the BUCS table tennis championships in Nottingham last weekend (19-20/11).

Bardsley, who competed for GB in the Commonwealth Games last summer, is the number one ranked under-21 singles women's player in England. She was the second seed in last weekend's competition, behind Nottingham's eventual gold medal winner.

Bardsley competed in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events, reaching the final, round of 16, and round of 16 respectively.

Bardsley, who competed as a full-time, professional table tennis player in Germany during her gap year until October, won every round 3-0 until the semi-final. All matches were played in a best-of-five format.

She faced a Nottingham player in the semi-final, winning 3-2. At one point in the match, she trailed 0-2 on sets and 5-8 in the third set. In the deciding set, Bardsley trailed 5-9, but went on to win 12-10.

Bardsley lost the final to the number one seed in the competition, an international student at Nottingham University.

Bardsley said she was "very happy" to win silver in the championships, especially because she has been "able to balance everything in Cambridge as well."

"I was pretty happy to have got to the final and I played the best I could," Bardsley told Varsity.

The next steps for Bardsley are the national championships, helping to get Cambridge promoted in the BUCS league (starting tomorrow) and winning the Varsity match in the new year.

Bardsley has no plans to compete full-time again in the near future. For now, she is focused on "trying to combine [her] table tennis with studying."

Elsewhere, Cambridge's Camryn Taliku reached the semi-final of the plate competition. Cambridge reached the round of 16 in the women's doubles (losing to UCL) and the round of 16 in the mixed doubles (losing to Nottingham).

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