Commonwealth Games: Tears and cheers for Wales table tennis team

Charlotte Carey was competing in her fourth Commonwealth Games and Anna Hursey her second

It proved to be Wales' 28th and final medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and perhaps one of the most memorable.

That might sound strange when there have been eight golds and defining moments such as the success of para sprinter Olivia Breen and two boxing golds for Ioan Croft and Rosie Eccles.

But a table tennis bronze for Anna Hursey and Charlotte Carey in the women's doubles was special in its own right.

On a quiet Monday morning at the NEC in Birmingham, a little bit of history was made when Wales recorded a first female Commonwealth Games table tennis medal.

It had been a long time coming. Not only since the sport was introduced into the Games in Manchester in 2002 but also the last 11 days of action.

Like badminton and squash, table tennis was played every day of the competition in Birmingham.

Carey summed up the marathon element, saying: "I feel like I've been here for four years in this event it's gone on for so long."

So along with everybody else, the Wales squad rocked up on the opening morning and were still going until the bitter end as others finished competing and started partying.

The weather has been glorious in Birmingham but the table tennis players will not have known that after being stuck indoors and out of sunlight for almost two weeks.

It has been an exhausting and emotional journey that has tested the resolve and resilience.

Tears and cheers

There have been tears in Birmingham. Lots of them. Most notably when the Wales women just missed out on a medal by finishing fourth in the team event.

It was a highest ever Commonwealth Games finish in this event but bittersweet after how close they had come.

• Commonwealth Games day-by-day guide & schedule

• Birmingham 2022 medal table

• Wales' 2022 roll of honour

They were defeated in the bronze medal match by Australia but the damage had been done the night before, after they agonisingly lost a three-and-half-hour semi-final epic to Malaysia when victory would have guaranteed a team silver.

It came down to the final game of the deciding singles which Carey lost. The Wales team were distraught as they broke down in floods of tears. They were inconsolable, and you feared, broken.

They were never in contention for the bronze medal match when they came back to the same arena less than 12 hours later as Australia eased to victory and the third podium position.

Recovery and redemption

Wales table tennis team of Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang, Charlotte Carey, Lara Whitton and Anna Hursey with coach Stephen Jenkins

It was hard to see how they would pick themselves up, but Hursey helped by reaching the women's singles quarter-finals.

Then by a twist of fate, Hursey and Carey found themselves back at the same venue exactly a week later after the team bronze medal defeat.

Monday morning at the NEC. 9.30am. Not much sporting success will have been achieved in these circumstances but this was the backdrop for the defining bronze medal match against Wong Xin Ru and Zhou Jingu.

This time defeat was not an option for the well-suited Wales pair. The right-handed 16-year-old Hursey who shows little emotion and glides through games, complemented by the left-hander Carey, 10 years her senior, much more emotional and more vocal.

A controversial incident occurred in the first game where television replays showed the ball had brushed a Singapore player but had not been spotted or admitted to her opponents.

That frustrated Carey but did not distract the Wales pair as they took the crucial opening game and went onto win 16-14, 14-12, 9-11, 12-10.

Cue wild celebrations and more emotion with Carey admitting she hadn't stopped crying during the competition.

This has been a long journey for Carey, who was just 14 when she made her Commonwealth debut in Delhi in 2010 and is competing at her fourth Games.

Now 26, she is the leader of the pack.

"Charlotte has sacrificed a lot of her life to play table tennis," said head coach Stephen Jenkins.

"She loves it and it means a lot to her, and I know she will keep going now and in four years she will want to get a couple of medals."

Carey was eclipsed as Wales' youngest Commonwealth Games competitor by Hursey who was 11 at the Gold Coast in 2018.

Now aged 16, Hursey has had to deal with the pressure of people expecting her to succeed.

"I know Anna incredibly well because I work with her weekly when she is home," Jenkins added.

"She was nervous for these Games and people did not realise all the pressure of being an 11-year-old and all that media attention and seeing whether will she deliver at this event, and she has delivered.

"To see people now here winning on this stage against the big teams is incredible.

"We are not even meant to be sharing the same table as Singapore, let alone beat them. And today we beat them."

Team effort

It was Hursey and Carey who took to the podium but they were quick to point to the efforts of team-mates Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang and Lara Whitton and the gold medal of para table tennis player Joshua Stacey.

"I think we would have liked to have done it [the podium] with the girls as well," added Carey.

"But they are so with us, they came this morning and practiced with us before the match.

"Josh won his medal yesterday, that gave us so much motivation and we're so proud of him.

"I'm sure they're all proud of us, we're all one team, one big unit and we've done it for everyone."