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30-Jan-08:
Tough start for Pittard       

WARWICKSHIRE'S three-time runner-up Jill Pittard will probably have to overcome top seed Tracey Hallam in the semi-finals and Elizabeth Cann in the finals if she is to realise her dream of winning the women's singles title after the draw for this weekend's English National Championships at Manchester Velodrome was announced today.

Pittard, the Land Rover engineer from Coventry, faces a tricky start. She is likely to meet former England international Rebecca Pantaney in the second round on Friday evening and the Gloucestershire player is also a former runner-up on two occasions.

Like top seed and twice former champion Hallam (Staffs) and second seed and Jersey's two-time champion and holder Cann (Middx), Pittard starts with a bye.

But in a packed men's singles draw there are no byes with top seed Rajiv Ouseph (Middx) starting his title bid against Handal Suryaputra of Warwickshire. Jersey's former champion Mark Constable, the seventh seed, is in Ouseph's half but the big danger could come from unseeded Toby Honey (Surrey), the former England squad member.

Second seed and last year's beaten finalist Nathan Rice (Bucks) starts off against Surrey's Jack Molyneux but he also has a former champion in his half in the shape of Middlesex's fifth seed Aamir Ghaffar, who won the title the first two years the Nationals came to Manchester.

Ghaffar warmed up for the Nationals by winning the Elite Open at Wimbledon last weekend.

Doubles star Gail Emms (Herts) is still determined to take her place in the line-up as she tries to shake off the illness which forced her out of last week's Korea Open. In the women's doubles she and Donna Kellogg (Derbyshire), the holders and European champions, face a Friday night contest against Pantaney and Hampshire's Sarah Burgess.

And in the mixed doubles she and Nathan Robertson (Notts), the Olympic silver and Commonwealth gold medallists, will be aiming to recapture the title they lost last year to Anthony Clark (Notts) and Kellogg. Both pairs have first-round byes and face their first tests on Friday afternoon.

Clark and Robertson are second seeds in the men's doubles where they are bidding to regain a title they have won three times together. They have a first-round bye before a likely and intriguing clash with Matthew Honey (Surrey) and European junior gold medallist Peter Mills (Notts).

Top seeds Robert Blair (Leics) and David Lindley (Notts) are likely to face another young pair in the second round in the shape of Yorkshire's Ed Foster and Warwickshire's Chris Tonks.

FULL DRAWS