Title glory for Gray

Table tennis

WEALD Table Tennis Club members Lewis Gray, 17, and Yolanda King, 16, won the singles titles at the Butterfly National Schools’ Individual Championships, at Doncaster, on Saturday.

Gray, from Benenden and representing Kent Schools, having won the under-16 title two years running, stepped up to lift the under-19 boys’ title at his first attempt.

He was generally untroubled, although he did drop a game before beating Scott Crawford (Cumbria) by 6-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 in the semi-final.

He overcame Mark Scutts (Sussex) in fairly close games by 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, but always looked in control. Scutts had knocked out second seed and former England junior champion Daniel Basterfield.

It was also fairly plain sailing for the Cranbrook-based club’s Yolanda King, from Hastings, who was representing Sussex in the under-16 singles.

After beating Janay Gibson (Cheshire) 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 in the semi-finals, she met Vicky Smith (Devon), who had defeated her at the English Senior Open. Yolanda got sweet revenge, comfortably winning in 11-7, 12-14, 11-5, 11-6.

Helsham Weerasinghe, a student at The Judd School, Tonbridge, representing Kent, reached the under-16 boys’ final, going down 11-3, 4-11, 9-11, 6-11 to Sam Walker (Nottinghamshire) after taking the first game.

On Sunday, Gray, King and Weerasinghe flew to Linz to represent England in the Joola Austrian Junior and Cadet Open.

Josh Bennett, from Polegate, East Sussex, who trains at Cranbrook in the South East cadet squad, lost 1-3 to Tom Jarvis (Lincolnshire) in the semi-finals of the under-11 boys’ singles.

Meanwhile, in the Kent Junior Closed Championships, at Gillingham, Weald member Dan Lawrence, from Tonbridge, won four titles.

After beating fellow Weald Club member George Cox, from Goudhurst, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 in the semi-finals, he defeated Andrew Lockwood (Byng Hall Club, Tunbridge Wells) by 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 to lift the under-18 boys’ singles.

In the under-15 event, he beat Tom Windram (Kemnal Club, Sidcup) by 11-7, 11-5, 12-10.

With Windram, he won both the junior and cadet boys’ doubles, defeating respectively Charlie Savell (Maidstone) and Andrew Lockwood, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, and James Barker (Thanet) and Harry Walton (Hartsdown), 11-9, 11-4, 11-13, 11-1.