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HomeREGIONALSEVENOAKSRising star Ben McKay off to National Table Tennis Finals

Rising star Ben McKay off to National Table Tennis Finals

Sevenoaks’ Ben McKay has qualified to represent Kent at the 47th Butterfly Schools’ Individual Table Tennis National Finals.

Ben, who is 14 years old and attends Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar School, will take on some of the best young players in the country at Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton on Saturday 2nd April, 2022. He earned a place at this event by battling through the Kent County qualifying stages.

Ben started playing table tennis aged 10 at Amherst Primary School, where he won the schools trophy which led to him joining Darenth Table Tennis club under the nurturing guidance of Janet and David Field. Ben now plays at Byng Hall in Tunbridge Wells which is led by Gary Howes, who also coached the Paralympian gold medallist Will Bailey. Ben plays for his club, county and aspires one day to play for his country.

More than 350 players representing 50 counties will gather for the National Finals, which is the biggest one-day table tennis competition in the country. Several stars of the sport, including Rio Olympians Liam Pitchford, Paul Drinkall and Sam Walker and commonwealth medallists Tin Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos, competed at this event during their school years.

Competitions are held at under 11, 13, 16, 19 levels for both boys and girls. All primary and secondary schools are eligible to enter players in the county rounds in order to qualify for these national finals.

Following these championships, the English Schools’ Table Tennis Committee will select representative teams to play in the Invitation International to be held in June 2022 with teams from England, Guernsey, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland, and Wales all competing.

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