SAINSBURY’S UK SCHOOL GAMES 2011

PRESS RELEASE

Over 1600 athletes met in the City of Sheffield from 1st/4th September 2011 to take part in 12 sports in the sixth and final UK School Games to be staged in its present format.

The Table Tennis Championships were held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre where 64 players representing Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and five English Regions took part in both boys’ and girls’ team and individual events.  They were joined by 22 players in Wheelchair, Standing and Learning Disability competitions.

 

In the team competition, England South East Boys (Lewis Gray, Igor Morais, Jared Patel, Helshan Weerasinghe) dominated their group with three 7–0 victories followed by a 4–0 semi-final win over Scotland and a 4–1 result in the final against England South West.  The girls’ event was won by the equally impressive Welsh team (Charlotte Carey, Nicole Hall, Angharad Phillips, Megan Phillips) who, having won their group, beat England South East in a closely fought 4–2 encounter in the semi-finals before sealing a 4–0 victory in the final against England South West.

 

Jack Hunter-Spivey (England North West) displayed his dominance in the Wheelchair event and took the title for the third consecutive year beating Nicko Anderson (England South East) in the final.  Sam Bell (England North East) made it two golds in two years by winning the Standing Disability event, beating Connor Gordon (Scotland) in the final, who had to be content for the second year running with the silver medal.  The Learning Disability competition was closely fought over two days with Jordon Abbott (England North West), Peter Millar (England North West) and Daniel Williams (England South East) all in with a chance until the final match in this round robin group.  Abbott clinched the title to improve on his silver medal place in 2010.

 

Following group matches, 16 players qualified for the final knock-out in both the boys’ and girls’ individual championships.  Unseeded George Downing (England South West) stormed through his group beating No. 1 seed Lewis Gray (England South East) to reach the knock-out and progressed to the semi-final where Scott Barton (Scotland) edged his way through to the final.  Igor Morais (England South East) after comfortably winning his group, was challenged by his South East team-mates before reaching the final which he won 9–11, 11–13, 11–2, 11–4, 11–4.  Reigning champion Emily Bates (England Midlands) had an easy passage to the semi-finals.  Yolanda King (England South East) reached the same stage following two close five game matches.  Charlotte Carey (Wales) buoyant after her team’s victory, narrowly beat Chloe Whyte (England North East) 12-10 in the fifth game of their match to meet Tin Tin Ho (London South East) in the second semi-final.  The South East girls fought through to the final where Yolanda King, 2010 silver medallist, beat Tin Tin Ho 11-8, 12-10, 6-11, 11-4 to become the 2011 Sainsbury’s UK School Games Champion.

 

The overall team trophy was awarded to England South East.

 

We look forward to the first of the next cycle of School Games which will be held in London in May 2012.

 

Reports by Russell Moore (ETTA) can be found on the ETTA website (dated 3rd & 4th September 2011) www.etta.co.uk

 

Detailed games/match scores in all events can be found on the UKSG website www.ukschoolgames.com.  The UKSG Showreel can be viewed on the same site.

 

Channel 4 TV coverage:  A one hour UKSG programme will be broadcast on Sunday 18th September at 06.30am and Sunday 25th September at 07.00am (and on Channel 4+1 one hour later).

 

Results - click to read:

 

Presentations were made at the conclusion of the championships by Keith Ponting, (President, English Table Tennis Association), Alan Ransome OBE (Chairman, Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation), Leanne Stevens (5 times National Junior Champion Bronze Medalist at the CP World Games), Nicola Perry (5 times English Senior National Champion – European and Commonwealth medalist), Pieter Schippers (President, International School Sport Federation Table Tennis Technical Commission), Peter Charters (Vice Chairman – Selection, English Table Tennis Association), Martin Clarke (Financial Director, English Table Tennis Association) and Martin Ireland (UK School Games - Championship Director)

 

 

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