A squad featuring Josh Imber, Joseph Abrahams, Jacob Zakaim, Toby Crawcour and Ben Barbarash defeated Wandsworth’s Ernest Bevin the final at the University of East London.

Barbarash, one of two 11-year-olds in the UCS team, held his nerve to beat Jeremiah Prempeh 12-10 in the deciding set to seal a 4-3 win in a competition featuring 29 schools.

Reflecting on a tournament in which UCS beat three national champions, team coach Matt Crawcour said: “This is a top event, professionally run at a great venue with exceptional standards. The team was nervous but they came through. I’m so proud of them.”

Victory cemented UCS’s place at the English Schools’ Table Tennis Association Southern Regional finals in Bournemouth in March.