Over two consecutive Wednesdays, 122 competitors descended upon The St Leonards Academy for the East Sussex Schools Under-11, U13, U16 and U19 Championships.
In the Under-11 event there were competitors from eight different schools across East Sussex. Represented were West St Leonards Primary Academy, Guestling Bradshaw Primary, Christchurch CE, Little Common Primary, Wallands Primary, Western Road Primary, South Malling CE Primary and Hellingly Primary.
It was also fantastic to see every table being umpired by secondary school sports leaders who had taken their Junior Umpire Award.
In the boys’ event the semi-finals were keenly contested between Bayly Wright of Hellingly, who beat Isaac Reeves of South Malling and Ben Mcgillivray of Western Road, who beat Sebastian Cooper of Wallands Primary. In the final there were some great rallies but it was Ben who triumphed to beat Bayly.
In the girls’ event it was encouraging to see two groups of six battling it out. Group 1 was won by Izzie Shinebourne of Wallands and Group 2 by Yasmin Wells of South Malling. The final was a thrilling battle but it was Yasmin who triumphed.
The following week it was the turn of the secondary pupils. The Under-13 girls winner was Joelle Bennett of Willingdon Community School, who defeated Imogen Scott Carter of Battle Abbey School.
The Under-13 boys’ event was the largest of the day with 35 competitors. Last year’s holder Fraser Kent of Heathfield Community College managed to retain his title with a 3-0 win over Alessio Marrocco of Cardinal Newman school.
The Under-16 Boys’ event was won by Josh Bennett of Willingdon Community school, retaining his Under-16 title for the third year in a row. Josh played Will Goodstone of Cavendish School, with some excellent table tennis on display.
The Under-16 Girls’ was won by Amelia Long from the host school, The St Leonards Academy, defeating Kyah Ovenden from Willingdon Community School.
The final event was the Under-19 girls, with last year’s national schools champion Eva Wang from Roedean school beating Ally Wise of Uplands Community College.
The winners now have the opportunity of representing East Sussex in the Schools Nationals finals in Wolverhampton in April.