Four members of a talented table tennis family from Devon are targeting success on an unprecedented scale at the Butterfly National Schools Individual Finals.
The Nguyen youngsters – Hugo, Leo, Alyssa and Thomas – all became county schools champions in their home county to secure their places at the national finals in Wolverhampton in April.
Thomas won the primary school Under-11 Boys’ Singles title, coming out on top of 25 entries. Alyssa won the U13 Girls’ Singles from an entry of seven.
Hugo and Leo are twins but entered different age categories – and both won. Right-handed Leo took the U16 age category from an entry of 62 players and left-handed Hugo claimed the U19s in an entry of 18.
Talented siblings in the sport are not unusual, but it seems doubtful that four members of the same family have played at the national finals in the same year. They will be competing in exactly half of the eight categories.
It will be Thomas’ first experience of the finals, but the older siblings have all played there before –Alyssa won the U11 title last year and will be aiming to repeat the feat at the older age group this time. She also won the girls’ singles at last year’s Primary Schools International. Hugo won bronze in the U16 Boys’ Singles last season.
Alyssa and the twins have also had success at the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships. Alyssa won both the U10 and U11 Girls’ Singles in 2021, successfully defending the U11s in 2022. She was runner-up in the U13 Girls’ Singles last season and also took U13 Girls’ Doubles gold alongside Evie Knaapen.
Hugo was runner-up in the U12 Boys’ Singles in 2021, while Leo won the silver medal at the U13 age group the following year. The twins also combined to win U13 Boys’ Doubles silver in 2022.
Family’s awesome foursome target schools success Table Tennis England.
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