BECKFOOT School's under-19 boys' team have shown courage of a different kind to qualify for the Butterfly National Schools' Team Championship semi-finals.
The Beckfoot quartet, who are all members of Oakbank Table Tennis Club, had a never-say-die attitude and won their first two matches before bowing 5-3 to Worksop's Outwood Valley Academy, but the Bingley school had already done enough to finish second in their group and therefore qualify for the regional final at Blackburn on Saturday, March 21.
Top two William Nash and Sam West have recently had operations – something their coach Hans Soova can relate to – but , despite having little recovery time, they played their part in their team's qualification out of Zone Two at Bradford Grammar School.
Skipper William, who had an operation on Christmas Eve which will hopefully finally rectify a long-standing stomach problem, won four matches out of six, while No 2 Sam, who broke an elbow two weeks later, won two out of six.
They were superbly backed up by Ezra Slater and Reuben Bunting, who both won five out of six, despite being relatively new to the level of play, especially Reuben.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here