Sam Walker suffers nightmare return to action following injury
Sam Walker’s return to international competition turned into a nightmare when he was injured in his first match.
The Worksop athlete was in Doha for the World Table Tennis Contender event and was drawn against Italy’s Niagol Stoyanov, ranked six places below him at No 102 in the world, in the first qualifying round.
But on only the 12th point of the match, trailing 5-6, Walker went over on his right ankle. He tried to carry on and finished the set, which he lost 11-6, but was unable to continue and left the venue on crutches.
Walker, who had not played on the world tour for a year, said: “Obviously I’m gutted about not getting to play, but these things can happen and now I just need to recover as soon as possible.”