News

Last year’s record of success was always going to be an extremely tough act to follow and it is true that 2018-9 was not as rewarding in terms of medals and achievements but it was still a fine year for Table Tennis at Dane Court with many excellent performances from both teams and individuals.

In the County Team Championships at the Medway Sports Centre back in November pride of place goes to the Under 13 Boys team consisting of Ben Allinson, Aarav Shah, Henry Mason and Lucas Harris who finished Runners Up and took the silver medals. The Under 16 A team of Louis Lines, Jayson Morley-Stone, Will Barker and Nikos Whittaker did very well to come third and clinch bronze medals as did the Under 16 Girls team of Beth Brenchley, Sofia Williams ,Paige Austen and Amy Wright. The more inexperienced Under 16 Boys B team of Russell Perry,Connor Regnauf-Dardennes, Riley Watkins and Finn Connelly won one and lost one of their group matches which was not enough to qualify for the next stage.

In the Boys County Individual Tournament Ben Allinson reached the Under 13 Final thus becoming the first Dane Court boy to reach a County Final. He lost a tight match in 3 sets to claim the silver medal while Henry Mason won a bronze medal in the Under 13 Consolation event. In the Girls Individual Tournament Beth Brenchley played really well to win the Consolation event for the Under 16 Girls and so take the gold medal.

Many Dane Court students play at Thanet Vikings Table Tennis Club and it has been encouraging to see so many compete regularly in the Thanet adult league and gain some impressive victories. Aarav Shah recently became the Thanet Under 12 champion while Ben Allinson was runner up in the Under 14 event. Louis Lines has been part of the successful Thanet Vikings Junior team that has notched up some brilliant results while he also won the Allocated Doubles event at the Thanet Table Tennis Championships. Finally it is great to see Catherine Banks, the highest ranking Dane Court player in the local leagues, going to Wolverhampton in April to represent the school and Kent in the National Schools Girls Under 19 Table Tennis Championships.