UCS reach last four of English School table tennis championships

The team from the Hampstead school narrowly missed out on the national title after finishing runners-up 12 months ago.

They experienced a much tougher route to the final this time, finishing second in the Central London County finals. However, they followed this up by winning the Zone Central London final on countback.

The regional final in Bristol was played to a very high standard, with the UCS team coming up against the England No. 5.

UCS made a flying start, beating Lawrence Sheriff School from Rugby, Warwickshire 8-0. This was followed by a 6-2 triumph against Haygrove School, Bridgwater.

Toby Crawcour (12-10) and Ben Barbarash (11-9) both overcame talented opponents to win their matches in the fourth set.

Jacob Zakaim and Max Conway followed this up by winning their first games but their respsective opponents rallied to lead 2-1. However, Zakaim and Conway showed tremendous character to fight back and win 3-2.

Crawcour continued his winning form to secure an unassailable 5-0 lead. And a 7-1 success over The Bishop’s Stortford High School from Hertfordshire secured qualification for UCS into the last four in the country.

A UCS team spokesman: “This is an outstanding achievement considering all the finalists have table tennis academies at their schools and playing between 10-15 hours a week as in the school curriculum.”

UCS will face fierce competition at his year’s national final will take place in Hinkley, Leicester on March10.

UCS: Ben Barbarash, Toby Crawcour, Jacob Zakaim, Max Conway, Oskar Gershfield