Talented Alyssa has become a national schools table tennis champion – a year after finishing as runner up in the same competition.
Plymouth youngster Alyssa Nguyen from Mannamead is celebrating becoming the champion after an amazing comeback in the final match. Alyssa, 11, was top seed in the under-11 girls’ category at the Butterfly National Schools Finals and battled through group and knockout stages to reach the final against second seed Hannah Saunders from Peterborough.
In a high-quality match which enthralled spectators, Nguyen turned the tables after going 2-0 down to win 3-2 (5-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7). It meant she went one better than last year, when she won the silver medal.
Alyssa said:
“I feel very happy. When I was 2-0 down, I thought I was still there, so I kept going and tried to get the next three. I really wanted to win this year after getting silver last year.”
Alyssa’s brother Hugo, 13, narrowly missed out on a gold of his own in the under-13 boys’ event. Despite being unseeded, he reached the semi-finals, going down 3-1 (11-5, 11-13, 15-13, 11-7) to eighth seed Joseph Cooper, and therefore had to settle for a bronze medal.
The siblings, and Hugo’s twin brother Leo, were back in action on the national stage at the end of April when they competed at the Mark Bates Ltd Cadet, Under-17 & Junior National Championships, organised by Table Tennis England, in Nottingham. The twins Hugo and Leo reached the semi-finals in the doubles, but all three struggled in the singles where they were competing against much older players.
