London Academy takes a full hand of five titles at the Jack Petchey final – Table Tennis England

London Academy matched their performance from last year when they won five titles at the Jack Petchey London Schools Team Finals.

Their teams claimed victory in both the boys and girls categories in the Under 11 and Under 16 age groups, plus the Under 13 girls competition.

St Paul’s School won the Under-13 Boys title, while Wallington High School for Girls and King Edward VI Grammar won the respective girls’ and boys’ competitions at Under-19 level.

Click here to view team photos from the event, which was held at the Jean Brown Indoor Arena in Redbridge.

Girls under 11 years old

London Academy bounced back from losing the first match of the final against Fox Primary to take the title as Darcey Parker won both her matches.

Mia Sebba put Fox ahead by beating Rea Kola 11-2, 11-7, but Parker leveled when she beat Matilda Hopkins 11-7, 11-8.

Sara Maslina came from behind to beat Katerina Kasimata 9-11, 11-7, 11-5 to put London Academy ahead, and Kola & Parker went on to win the doubles 11-5, 9-11, 13-11 against Sebba & Hopkins. Parker’s 11-7, 13-11 win over Sebba clinched the trophy, although Kasimati had the final say for Fox with a 7-11, 11-6, 14-12 victory over Kola.

In the semi-final, London Academy defeated St Joseph’s 7-0, and it was the same margin for Fox against St Edward’s

Boys under 11 years old

London Academy completed an age group doubles, but didn’t quite have it their way in the final, against Churchfields.

Dominic Rimmy put the Academy ahead by beating Adam Aziz 11-4, 11-7, but Lucas Marks hit back for Churchfields with a 12-10, 11-9 score against Kiasha Beheshti.

David Ciurea and David Luca Dobrita defeated Arjun Nair and Xavi Mohammed respectively and Rimmy then won a crucial match against Marks 9-11, 11-5, 11-6.

Aziz defeated Ciurea 11-7, 11-5 to postpone the result, but Beheshti’s 11-6, 11-3 win over Mohammed secured a 5-2 overall win for the London Academy.

It was the same score for London Academy in the semi-final when they defeated Sheen Mount, while Churchfields won 5-3 against St Aubyn’s.

Girls under 13 years old

London Academy dominated the competition and sealed the title with a 4-0 win over Colchester County in the final.

Serene Rahmani-Walentynska, Alexia-Bianca Ciobanica and Ruby Gandi Bamidele all won their singles matches, although Adhuna Das Ciobanica expanded to 12-10, 2-11, 11-8.

The doubles then sealed the victory as Rahmani-Walentynska & Gandi defeated Bamidele Das & Hanusri Mohansundar.

London defeated Ashmole Academy in the semi-final, without dropping a game, and it was also 4-0 for Colchester against Morpeth, although Lejla Cox won the first game 14-12 against Mohansundar.

Boys under 13 years old

St Paul’s claimed the title in thrilling fashion after the final against Wallington County Grammar finished 4-4.

It was a roller coaster game that both schools could win. Wallington made its move first as Ethan King defeated Daniel Bordalo 11-9, 11-8, but St Paul’s moved ahead 2-1 thanks to victories for Nikolas Karavas and Alexander Lundgren over Adam Raffiq and Samarth Choudhary respectively.

Toshiro Franklin outlasted Theo Cleanis 12-10, 11-9 to make it 2-2, but Karavas restored the Wallington lead with an 11-6, 11-7 win over King. St Paul’s then won two on the spin as Choudhary defeated Bordalo 11-9, 6-11, 11-8 and defeated Raffiq Cleanis 11-3, 11-7.

It all came down to the final match when Franklin took on Lundgren and won the first game 12-10. However, Lundgren won the next two 11-8, 11-7 to make the final score 4-4.

St Paul’s got the verdict on the points difference to take the title.

St Paul’s had a 5-1 win over Ilford County in the semi-finals, while Wallington advanced past London Academy 4-3, with all four players contributing one win.

Girls under 16 years old

London Academy defeated St Marylebone 4-0 in the final to win the title.

Soraya Rahmani-Walentynska started the ball rolling with an 11-3, 11-6 win over Nour Alamine, and Assil Sarri followed with an 11-9, 11-2 win over Zeina Negm.

Naomi Adjei came from a match to beat Eva Yared 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, and Rahmani-wahmanska & Sarri completed the victory 11-5, 11-8 in the doubles against Alamine & Negm.

London Academy came through the semi-finals 4-2 against Addey & Stanhope School, while St Marylebone defeated Morpeth School 4-0.

Boys under 16 years old

London Academy completed another age group doubles as their boys team defeated Addey & Stanhope 5-0 in the final.

Adam Riadi won the first match, coming from behind to beat Franky Hoang 8-11, 11-2, 11-6. Yacoub Rahmani-Walentynska made it 2-0 with a 12-10, 11-7 victory over Elkanah Gordon.

Connor Godley won 9-11, 11-5, 12-10 against Joshua Ljelekah, and Stefan Pop made it 4-0 by beating Karamogo Bamba 11-6, 11-6.

It was left to Rahmani-Walentynska to beat Bamba 11-4, 11-5 and clinch the title.

In the semi-finals, London Academy defeated University College School 8-0, while Addey & Stanhope had to count out to get past Twyford CE School after their draw ended at 4-4. Addey & Stanhope managed to regain a one-match deficit three times and ended up with a set difference of 10-8.

Girls under 19 years old

The round-robin competition saw Wallington High School win all four matches to take the title ahead of St George’s Catholic School, with Nonsuch High in third place. But they had to work hard, with three 3-2 wins.

They started by beating Nonsuch 3-2, with Nonsuch coming from 2-0 down, before Man Yin Ng won her second singles match to seal victory for Wallington.

The second match was a 3-2 tie against St George’s, for whom Luna Archard won two singles in the first and fifth matches. In between, Man Yin Ng and Kei Yin Ng each won one singles match and together won the doubles match against Archard & Leona Nerona 11-9, 7-11, 11-7.

A 5-0 win against University College School followed, before Wallington clinched the title with a 3-2 win over Oaklands School.

They went behind when Angelina Harea won the first match against Man, but Wallington won the next three to guarantee the title, although Harea pulled one back in the final match to beat Kei 12-14, 11-9, 14-12.

St George’s defeated Nonsuch 4-1 to seal second place.

Boys under 19 years old

King Edward VI Grammar School from Chelmsford took the title, but only on countback after the final against St Dominic’s Sixth Form College finished 4-4.

St Dominic’s took the lead as Shahuraj Nimse defeated Kuzey Musabak 11-7, 11-8. However, King Edward came storming back with three victories on the spin. First Callum Heath defeated Joshua Fernandes 11-5, 11-4, then Oscar Hutt defeated Manu Dhosi 11-3, 11-3, followed by Charlie Gould who defeated Harvey Cheung 11-6, 11-4.

Nimse reduced the deficit when he defeated Heath 11-7, 10-12, 11-8, but Musabak restored the two-point lead when he defeated Dhosi 11-2, 11-4.

Fernandes held his nerve to beat Gould 11-3, 7-11, 14-12 to make it 4-3 and St Dominic’s leveled as Cheung defeated Hutt 11-6, 11-6.

Once the number of sets won was added up, it was 10-8 in favor of King Edward, giving them the title.

King Edward had beaten Whigift 6-1 in the semi-final, while it was another tight battle for St Dominic’s, who never trailed against Wallington but were repeatedly put back. It finished 4-4, with St Dominic’s progressing to the final with a 10-9 set margin.