Schools Title

[DaveR]

Shropshire’s Damien Nicholls, blazed a trail of glory at the UK School Games by winning the Boys Individual event in style. The England junior international beat Matthew Ware in five pulsating games to earn his new title after claiming two major scalps along the way. Earlier at the Uiversity of Bath he had beaten second seed Gavin Evans and then Scottish No 1 Craig Howieson to remind the selectors that he is clearly a player to watch for the future.

Favourite Darius Knight disappointed his fans when he went down to Alim Hirji at the quarter final stage.

Emma Vickers, a hot favourite to take the girls title, was beaten by Cleveland player Karina Le Fevre in the last four. Miss Le Fevre then went on to beat Emily Bates in five games who had earlier accounted for Melissa Wright. This was a dazzling display from Miss Le Fevre who can feel pleased with her weekend's work and by beating players ranked above her.

The Disabled events also provided some eye catching table tennis. Aaron McKibbin beat Kysten Coombs in the Standing event whilst the talented Jack Pegram retained his title in the Wheelchair event. Finally there were cheers for Alex Southern who finished the Learning Disability event unbeaten.

So plenty of surprise results and some outstanding table tennis during a weekend that players and officials will remember for a very long time.


By Jim Beckley

[TS]

Go Karina!

[DaveR]

Lol nice one !

Support the local !

[Mr Wilko]

Well done Karina :static::static:

[TS]

Here is todays newspaper report - http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/north-east-sport/sport-news/2008/09/02/teen-sensation-beats-the-best-84229-21649979/

[SammyBoy]

I copied so members can see if that's ok

Teen sensation beats the best

by Alan Ransome, Evening Gazette

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/gazettelive2/sep2008/6/7/221FA67A-9EA8-1649-B8B7E10CB14312E4.jpg
ORMESBY teenager Karina Lefevre won her biggest championship so far by taking the gold medal in the UK School Games Table Tennis in Bath.
The 15-year-old, ranked No 4 in the England Junior list and seeded fourth in the UK Schools Games, took some top scalps by beating all three players ranked and seeded above her.
Karina, who attends the Thornaby Community School, won seven consecutive matches, starting by winning her group against Chloe Thomas of Wales, Stephanie McCallum of Scotland and Ayonija Sundararajan of Berkshire, all by comfortable margins, to take a place in the last 16.
At this stage, Karina beat her second Welsh player, Natasha Rees, in straight games before going on to play the England No 2, Sara Wang, against whom Karina had played two very close matches in the team (http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/north-east-sport/sport-news/2008/09/02/teen-sensation-beats-the-best-84229-21649979/#) events.
This match was a third close encounter which was levelled at two games and nine points all in the decider, before Karina won the last two points.
In both the semi-final and final, the Ormesby girl fought back from being 2-1 down.
In the semi, her recovery was against the England No 1, Emma Vickers, where Karina came back from the 2-1 deficit to win the fourth 11-6 and the decider 11-7.
In the final Karina gained revenge against the England No 3 Junior and No 1 Cadet, Emily Bates of Lincolnshire, from the final of the English Junior Championships in May.
Karina looked in trouble when she lost the third game at 11-3 but took full control from that point, winning the fourth 11-6 with some strong hitting rallies and the decider 11-4.
What makes this performance even more remarkable is that Karina was, in general, playing against competitors two or three years older than herself.
She still has three more chances to lift this title in the future.
Karina also helped the North- east girls’ team to win the bronze medal in the team event with her Ormesby team mates Chloe Whyte and Rachel Greener and Sheffield’s (http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/north-east-sport/sport-news/2008/09/02/teen-sensation-beats-the-best-84229-21649979/#) Melissa Wright.
The North-east team won their group by beating Scotland 6-1, Northern Ireland 5-2 and the South East 4-3.
In the semi-final the North-east narrowly lost to the South-west 4-3. They played off for the bronze medal against the South-east for the second time and on this occasion won 4-3.
Karina was the star of the North-east team, winning nine of her ten matches while Melissa Wright won seven out of ten, Chloe Whyte two out of six and Rachel Greener one from four.
This overall performance with a total of five wins against higher ranked players will boost Karina’s England ranking right at the start of the new season and helps to justify the England selectors’ faith in her.
Karina’s next major competition is her first full international when she represents the England Senior team in the Six Nations Championships in Fife a week on Saturday.

Courtesy Evening Gazette

[Annie]

Alan Ransome? That name sounds familiar :resent:

[Michael Hahn]

he owns Tees Sport and runs Ormesby

[Annie]

Thought I'd heard of him :resent: