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Youngsters in top form at Home Nations event

Kirsty Wilson won a team gold for England
Kirsty Wilson won a team gold for England

Two Kent girls scooped medals from the Home Countries Schools’ International Championships in Cardiff over the weekend.

Thirteen-year-old English Schools Champion Yolanda King, of the Weald Table Tennis Club, won a team gold for England and also won a silver in the individual event at the Welsh Institute of Sport.

King’s practice partner Kirsty Wilson, 15, of the Howard Club in Rainham, also won a team gold for England and a bronze for the individual event.

The girls represented an England side who came up against the host nation, Scotland, Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

King played alongside England number one Emily Bates and they beat Wales A 3-2, Scotland B 5-0 and Jersey 5-0 to qualify for the semi-finals.

They beat England B 3-1 in the semi-finals despite King’s shock loss to Evangeline Collier who she had comfortably beaten in the English Schools Championship final.

King found her best form in the final, however, and she and Bates beat Wales 3-0.

King’s individual silver came after a tricky passage through the group stage and then a quarter-final in which she trailed 2-0 only to come back strong.

She comfortably overcame her semi-final opponent but lost 3-1 in the final to her England colleague Bates.

Wilson helped take England all the way in the team event, however, and representing England A with Lucy Davidson, they beat the Isle of Man 5-0, Guernsey 3-2, Scotland B 4-1 and Wales A 3-2 to qualify for the semi-finals.

Wilson’s only defeats in the team event came against gifted top-spin looper Alice Loveridge (Guernsey) and in a five-game thriller against Natasha Rees of Wales after being two games up and at deuce in the third game.

In the semi-finals England defeated Ireland 3-2, and then in the final against England B Wilson Kirsty was on fantastic form, contributing two 3-1 singles wins over Rachel Baker (Lancashire) and Sophie Neil (Nottinghamshire) towards her teams 3-1 victory.

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