North London Schools’ Table Tennis Team Championships:

London Academy Primary scored a clean sweep for the first time ever.

Both the London Academy Boys and Girls Under 11s teams came top of their groups and will now move on to the all London schools’ finals in January.

London Academy also took the honours in the Boys Under 13 and Under 19 sections while a strong Fortismere team came out on top in the Under 16 Boy’s section.

In the Under 11 Boys section, the London Academy A squad of Yacoub Rahmani, Lewis MacSween, Stephan Pop and Mohammed Rahdy combined their talents to overcome their rivals from Edgware, Fairway, Broadfields, and also their schoolmates in London Academy B.

Their toughest challenge came from a determined Broadfields squad of Mason Barnard , Daniel Akrobati, Leo Khan, and Thomas Roma who missed out on the top slot by only four points. First and second place was only decided in their head-to-head match in the penultimate round. Broadfields fought hard with wins for Mason and Leo but the strength and depth of the Academy squad proved too much in the end. A special mention must go to Thomas who pushed both of his opponents all the way before losing narrowly in the final set.

The Under 11 Girls group saw the Fairway Primary team of Ashleigh McGill, Leah Mulqueen Brown, Aiza Anwary and Bunna Abazi put up a tough fight to take second place. The winner of the group was not decided until the very last round when Fairway met eventual winners Soraya & Serene Rahmani, Inayah Zaselka, and Sanjana Sabvilli from London Academy.

The Academy girls eventually took the head-to-head tie by four points that guaranteed them the top slot. The pivotal match of the tie saw Serene come from behind to beat Leah in the final set,

giving London Academy a three point lead which eventually proved too much for Fairway.

The Under 13 Boys division was won by London Academy who only needed a single hard fought win over Krishnam, Cedvet, Turgut, and David from London Grammar. Two wins each from Shahu, Parsa and Ilyes gave the London Academy squad an unassailable lead despite two clinical wins for NLG from David and Turgut.

The under 16 Boys title was taken by a strong Fortismere team of Sam Gabriel, Noah and Euan Hacking with Tyrone Michael. Their combination of talent and experience was just too much for their rivals from London Academy and North London Grammar.

The same pattern played out in the Boys Under 19s, but this time it was London Academy’s team of Daniel Olawamawayo, Robert Ionescu, Fernando Frandes, and Shaun O Connor who proved too strong for both teams from Wood House College.

Woodhouse A took second place in the group over Woodhouse B with an emphatic win in their second round match.

Despite the reduced numbers the evening was a big success and we wish the best of luck for the teams from London Academy and Fortismere who will be going to the all London schools’ finals, which will take place on 8th January 2022 at the University of East London.             

Final Scores