The Table Tennis England Schools Team have arrived in Bahrain along with over 5000 other participants, to compete in the International School Sports Federation Gymnasiade. There are delegations from 69 countries representing 26 sports. The opening ceremony took place today and competition begins in earnest tomorrow (25-October).

The England team comprises six boys and six girls competing in team and individual competitions in the U18 age group at the tournament, from October 23 to November 1.

The full squad is – boys: Isaac Kingham, Alex Liu, Hiko Yan, Joe Dennison, Krish Chotail, Ben Dunkley; girls: Hannah Silcock, Ella Pashley, Lowri Hurd, Mabel Shute, Naomi Coker, Saskia Key

The non-playing captains are Steve Burge, Kate Hughes, Gail Johns and Chris Parker, and umpires Chloe Ireland and Sheila Walshe complete the England delegation.

Photo credit: Gail Johns

DAY 3 UPDATE (28/10/24):

The 2 England 1st teams played in the semi finals and both-teams lost to Chinese Taipei – the girls 4-0 and the boys 4-1 

The second teams were playing for places 5-8 and both lost to Brazil- the boys 4-1 and the girls in a very close 4-3

The boys 1 then lost 4-0 to China to finish 4th, the girls 1 lost 4-1 to USA to also finish 4th

Boys 2 lost to Saudi Arabia 4-3 to finish 8th and the girls 2 finished 7th

Individual competition starts tomorrow (29-October)