Sam Walker reaches U21s semi-final in Korea Open

The Worksop Olympian comfortably beat players from Taipei and Thailand in the early rounds before coming from behind to defeat Jaehyun An of the host nation 3-2 (10-12, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7) in the quarter-finals.

He had chances in the semi-final against Mizuki Oikawa of Japan before going down 3-1 (12-10, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11).

In the senior Men’s Singles, Walker lost 4-0 (11-1, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7) to Xi Wang of Germany in the preliminary rounds.

In the doubles, Walker and Team GB colleague Liam Pitchford, seeded 11th, were beaten 3-2 (11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 11-8) in the last 16 of the doubles by seventh seeds Woojin Jang & Ganghyeon Park of Korea.

The tournament is one of the strongest competitions of the year, featuring 16 of the world’s top 20 players.