The U13s table tennis team from Harrogate Grammar School have just won the Regional final to go through to the National Final of the English Schools’ Table Tennis Butterfly National Team Championships, having previously defeated opponents in the County, Zone and Regional Finals. The National Final takes place on 23rd March at Hinckley in Leicestershire where the U13 champions are up against three other schools. This is a first in the history of Harrogate Grammar School, a spectacular achievement.
The Regional Finals consisted of 8 singles matches against four schools with only the overall winner going through to National Finals. The first match was against Rainhill, Meryside with a 5-3 victory. The final and deciding match was against Silverdale, Sheffield, who had also beaten Rainhill. The matches ebbed and flowed 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, with the final two matches to decide overall score 4-4. This meant some very nervous adding, checking and rechecking of the individual game scores to get the ultimate ruling, Silverdale 16 HGS 17 – Regional champions.
Competition was tough with the team playing some stunning shots. Team member Anish Johar has only been playing table tennis for a year, is very talented and currently plays for Burn Bridge. He is joined on the U13 team by Eshan Saeed who currently plays for Spa. Leo and Oscar Murray, brothers in Years 7 and 8 who are very keen and currently play for Harrogate Grammar School league weekly.
