Queen Mary’s College Table Tennis team win five out of six competitions at The British College’s South East Regional Championships!

Taking place over the weekend of 18 - 19^th November the annual British College’s South East Regional Championships took place at Barton Peveril College, in Eastleigh. Approximately 2,300 students from colleges across the region turned up to compete in a wide range of sports, including students from QMC.

Students from QMC competed in a range of sports including Men’s Hockey, Netball, Tennis, Rugby, Swimming, Badminton, Trampolining, Golf, Cross Country, and Basketball but it was the Table Tennis team that came out on top winning five out of six competitions that they entered into.

Joshua Manson and Charlie Morrison made it to the finals of the Men’s Doubles where they met friends from Barton Pevril College who they beat 3-2. The Ladies Doubles was played by Devi Kandanzwa and Manorama Ghale who won their final with a score of 11-8. The Mixed Doubles was played by Zoe Blagborough and Lewis Webb, and after dominating all their games they came out on top. Zoe said: “The competition went really well; we played consistently and won our matches without dropping a set, I’m really pleased!”

Matt Wilson played the Men’s Singles, beating Peter Symonds College in the semi-final, and Bexhill College in the final. All the girls played in the Women’s Singles, but Zoe Blagbrough reached the final however she was beaten by Havant College.

With five out of six wins the team will now go on to represent the South East Region, and Queen Mary’s College, at Bath University at Easter. The training over the months leading up to the competition paid off but many of the team had been playing before they joined QMC. Several of the team members were previously pupils at Aldworth Science College where they were coached by Patrick Garlick. Patrick himself is an ex-QMC student and is one of the event organisers for the championships!

After the Championships the team went on to play at the Hampshire County Tournament, at Brockenhurst College, on Tuesday 29^th November. Both the girls and boys teams won the under 19 competitions and will progress on to the Zone Final in Tower Hamlets in January. Despite great matches, both Matt Wilson and Zoe Blagbrough just missed out on winning their individual competitions, being beaten in the finals.

The QMC Table Tennis team are now Hampshire Team Champions and South East Colleges Champions in the boy’s singles, boy’s doubles, ladies’s doubles and mixed doubles! They are now looking forward to The British College’s National Finals at Bath University in April next year. They will be joined by Tom Watson competing in cross country, golfer Danielle Burrell, and trampoliners Ollie Addis and Paul Jones. Our region, the South East, has won this event for the past four years so let’s hope this years’ team can help make it a fifth year in a row!