Two teams from Bradford Grammar School have reached the last 16 in the English Schools’ Table Tennis Championships.

Both the school’s under-11 boys and under-16 girls have won through their zone finals, having a 100 per cent record against the county winners from Staffordshire, Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, to reach the next stage in Grantham on Sunday, February 23.

The girls’ under-16 team are hoping to reach the national finals for the first time after finishing second in the region last year, when they were all under 13.

Hibah Mahmood, Sophie Yung, Madeleine Silberberg and Hannah Chaudry are all in Year Nine, so could have two more opportunities in the competition.

Bradford Grammar School’s table tennis coach Andy Crabtree said: “It is seven years since BGS have had an under-11 boys’ team reach the regional finals, so I am hoping the team of Sam Young, James Bowmer, Pranav Balabhadra and Nicholas Miller will be the first BGS team to make the finals.”

Table tennis is a really popular sport at the school, with over 50 pupils participating in lunch-time table tennis and during Wednesday afternoon activities.

Pupils also participate at local clubs in Ilkley, Oakbank, Keighley and Halifax table tennis centres.

Several pupils are in the Yorkshire or regional development squads, with four players ranked in the top 100 in the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) rankings.