COLEBRIDGE Table Tennis Club had three representatives in the National Schools Individual Championships at Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton.
Charlotte Wong (Warwickshire) competed in the under-11 girls, Aarif Li (Warwickshire) competed in the under-11 boys and Nathaniel Saunders (Birmingham) competed in the under-16 boys.
Aarif dominated his group matches with comfortable wins against Samuel Cook (Cumbria), Sean Koeberg (Hampshire), Ammar Hussein-Lalji (London West), Joshua Smith (Worcestershire) and Daniel Chai (West Yorkshire) to advance to the knockout stages as group winner.
As a seeded player, Aarif received a bye into the quarter-finals where he beat Finlay Howes (Norfolk) 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 to reach the semi-finals.
And Aarif came from a set down to clinch his place in the final eventually beating Theo Kniep (the fourth seed from Berkshire) 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5.
However, Aarif was edged out in five sets by familiar foe Pablo Ramirez Rioja (the second seed from Hertfordshire) in the final, losing 11-6, 10-12, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9.
Elsewhere, Charlotte won four matches in her group as she beat Sophie Grzyowski (Hampshire), Ronja Williamson (Cumbria), Ruby Melero (Suffolk) and Assil Sarri (London West) losing just one match to Catherine Lv (Leicestershire).
Her victory against Sarri ensured her progress to the knockout stages as group runner-up before she then reached the quarter-finals with a 9-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-7 success against Lyla Page (Essex).
Charlotte’s tournament came to an end at the last eight stage as she was beaten in straight sets (8-11, 4-11, 6-11) by Alyssa Nguyen (Devon) who was the number one seed and eventual runner-up whilst group opponent Catherine Lv won the event
Lastly, Nathaniel (representing Birmingham) won his group after beating Charlie Davidson (Gloucestershire), Angelos Gidopourus (Durham), Harvey Sandwell (East Sussex) and Frederick Jones (Nottinghamshire).
He then secured a straight sets win over Harvey Gough (Worcestershire) in the first knockout round before succumbing to number 1 seed and eventual winner Jakub Piwowar (Devon) in the quarter-finals after losing 9-11, 9-11, 5-11.
