Savill claims national bronze

Table tennis

Luke Savill won bronze at the Junior National Cup tournament for the top 10 players in the rankings.

The Maidstone teenager was seeded second for the roundrobin event and performed well to win all five matches on the first day.

But he was beaten by third seed Matt Leete on day two, his opponent edging a quality match 4-2 and was then beaten by top seed and champion Tom Jarvis 4- 0 in his final match.

Savill, 17, said: “I played well on the first day but just struggled to keep it up. It’s a lot of matches and it’s hard.

“Tom was too strong for me but I had one bad game apart from that. A medal’s not too bad.” Two players from the South East Performance Centre in Cranbrook also fared well, with Josh Bennett finishing fourth and James Smith sixth.

Bennett won five and lost four of his matches, taking top seed Jarvis to seven games.

Smith won four and lost five of his matches, the highlight being his victory over England junior No.3 Leete.

Weald Club member Shem Lejarde finished under-13 singles runner-up in South East Regional qualification for the National Inter-Regional Championship, despite feeling unwell. Paraylmpic champion Will Bayley is in National Championship action in Nottingham this weekend.

Bayley, 29, from Tunbridge Wells, said: “I enjoy the Nationals. It is a good challenge for me playing against my GB team-mates, especially in the open class.”

The Maidstone Table Tennis League Handicap team finals take place at Larkfield Village Hall on Wednesday (7.30pm).

Coxheath C face Working Men’s G in the Allen Cooper final. The Coxheath team are captained buy Janie Cooper, wife of the late Allen.

Kings Hill meet Woking Men’s F in the Consolation final.