Revolution Table Tennis Club provided three representatives from Bedfordshire Schools Association at the Butterfly National Schools Individual Championships held in Wolverhampton on Saturday 22nd April.
The youngest, 10 year old Quba Thomas, who has only been playing fifteen months surprised everyone at the competition by coming runner-up in his Under 11 group having only lost to the No. 1 seed and eventual winner Lin Zihan from Cambridgeshire. Quba, who attends Bedford School, progressed through to the last 16 in the competition only to lose out to the No. 3 seed and eventual semi-finalist, Zaid Aldilimi from London. He has another shot at the title next year where he will be a serious medal prospect if he continues his rapid progress.
In the boy’s Under 16 event Ben Dunkley, who attends Bedford Modern School and was seeded second in his group, won all his matches, beating the No. 1 seed Harry Randall in his group 3-0. He then won his first round match and finally had a terrific battle against Krish Chotai from Surrey in the quarter finals losing in five games after being 2-1 up. Chotai lost in the semi-finals by the faintest of margins to the eventual winner Isaac Kingham 12-10 in the fifth. As a result of his performance Ben has been selected to represent England Schools in the Senior Schools International taking place at the University of Galway in Ireland from Friday June 23 to Sunday June 25.
In the boy’s Under 19 event, 17 year old Thomas Nicol was in the No.2 seed and losing finalist Rhys Davies’s group. Despite winning one of his matches and having a close match with the group runner-up, Nicol found the competition just a little too tough overall on this occasion.