Oakwood pupils take honours in regional round
THE finest from Hillingdon’s Oakwood School took top team honours in the west London regional round of the Jack Petchey London Schools Championships, run in partnership with Table Tennis England.
It was held at Harrow’s Whitmore High School and attracted schools from Hillingdon, Harrow, Brent, Ealing and Hounslow. Age ranges included U12, U14, U16 and U19 for boys and girls.
Oakwood won the boys U16 title, consisting of Marko Begg, aged 12, and 15-year-olds Arjun Jaitly, Balazs Nagy and Edmond Wong.
In the round robin competition, they beat a team from the host school Whitmore High School to take the title. Winners of the regional competitions progress to the team final on January 12 at the University of East London.
Wong said: “It was a good competition. I had a bad start but came back strong. We are glad we won and can’t wait for the final.”
More than 5,884 students have played in competitions during the past year and around 40,000 children have been directly impacted by the scheme since it started.
Sir Jack Petchey, CBE, 93-yearold founder of the Jack Petchey Foundation, is passionate about giving young people freedom and opportunity. He said “As a young man I loved playing table tennis. It kept me fit and active and developed my self-discipline and confidence.
“It’s great to know so many play the sport every week as this programme is so close to my heart.”