England youngsters strike gold in France

Members of the England Futures Squad won a total of eight medals, including five golds at the Mulhouse International Youth Open in France.

The medallists included a clean sweep in the under-11 boys’ competition, which was won by Zihan Lin, with Lewis Wu second and Dimitar Dimitrov third.

There were two medals in the under-13 boys’, where Ryan Goodier won the gold and Theo Kniep the bronze.

Further golds went to Hannah Saunders in the under-11 girls’ event, and in both under-nine competitions, in which Cindy Xiao and Jayden Chen won the respective girls’ and boys’ events.

Also competing in France were Pablo Ramirez Rioja, who just missed a medal in the under-13 boys, finishing fourth – one place ahead of team-mate Teagan Khazal. Oscar Nikolli was eighth, Jake Davidson 10th, Charlie Donald 11th and Nishil Shah 17th – Shah also won the consolation event.

In the under-11s, Lihao Chen was just outside the medals in fourth, Malek Shamakh was ninth and Taha Shamakh 13th.

As well as her gold in the under-nines, Xiao was fifth in the under-11s, while Violet-Lily Marquis was fifth in the under-13 girls.

Their joint achievements were enough for England to be named team of the tournament. The full squad is pictured below and the medallists above.

England youngsters strike gold in France Table Tennis England.