Sports News

We’re pleased to bring the latest round-up of sports news, including tennis, golf, athletics, water polo, badminton and cricket.

Athletics

Achilles Relays (Oxford) – Thursday 1 May

Congratulations to the U15 4x800m team of Joachim, Shunsei, Cyrus and Charlie (all Fourth Form) who won the Achilles Relays last Thursday in a new school record of 8 minutes, 57.3 seconds. They were awarded the Roger Bannister trophy for best performance of the day and remarkably their time would also have been good enough to win the U17 event!

Congratulations also go to the U17 4x100m team of Dylan (Sixth Form), Zac , Ethan and Luke (all Fifth Form), who ran 45.7 seconds to make the final; and the U17 4x200m team of Dylan (Sixth Form), John, Ethan and Zac (all Fifth Form) who also made the final, where they ran a time of 1 min, 37.3 seconds for a dramatic 3rd place finish.

Guy Butler Shield (Harrow) – Saturday 3 May

Well done to all the athletes who competed in the first full team match of the season at the Guy Butler Shield, hosted by Harrow School, on Saturday. There was excellent team spirit on show, accompanied by some outstanding individual performances. Overall, the team finished in 5th place behind runaway winners Harrow. Charlie (Fourth Form) was awarded performance of the match for his win in the U15 boys’ 800m, in a personal best time of 2:08.99.

London Mini-Marathon – 26th/27th April

Well done to Charlie (Fourth Form), Leau (Fifth Form) and Cyrus (Fourth Form) on brilliant performances in the 2.7km London Mini-Marathon on Saturday 26 April finishing in 9th, 50th and 52nd respectively.

Golf

St Paul’s School golfers travelled to the prestigious Slaley Hall in Northumberland to compete in the Independent Schools Golf Association (ISGA) National Finals.

Shiv, Veer (both Sixth Form) and Nicolas (Upper Eighth) all rose to the challenge in this highly competitive two-day event. With difficult conditions and a demanding championship course, the competition saw some remarkable individual performances, including one standout round of -7 on Day 1 by an opposition player!

Amongst this talented field, Veer put together a particularly impressive performance, finishing 16th overall with a consistent and composed +9 over two rounds. His solid play was a key contributor to the team’s overall result. As a team, St Paul’s held their own, securing a 14th-place finish with a combined total of +26: a highly commendable effort.

Tennis

On Friday, St Paul’s School took part in the Surrey Schools Tennis Festival hosted at St George’s College, Weybridge, with six pairs representing the school across the U14, U16, and U18 age groups. The event welcomed over 50 schools and showcased some of the most promising young tennis talent in the region.

In the U14 division, the top pair (Costi and Sehwan) delivered a strong performance, battling their way through to the semi-finals, demonstrating tactical discipline and impressive shot-making against strong opposition. Though they narrowly missed out on a place in the final, their run was a highlight in a highly competitive field.

However, it was in the U16 age group that St Paul’s truly shone. The second pair, Casper and Alexei, were in dominant form throughout the tournament. Dropping only four games across the entire competition, they swept through their matches with power and finesse, working very well together.

Team: Shlok, Adrian (both Lower Eighth); Maxim, Yusaf (both Upper Eighth); Bryan, Ollie, Casper, Alexei (all Fifth Form); Costi, Sehwan, Cyrus and Saul (all Fourth Form).

Water Polo

Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships, Coventry, 2-3 May

Congratulations to Max Walton (Lower Eighth), who competed in the U19 Nationals this weekend. He is a member of the silver medal-winning West London Penguins team. The team put up a strong fight in the final, in a closely matched game, narrowly losing to Manchester 10-8.

Badminton

Tournament at Dulwich College, 30 Apr

The SPS Badminton team – Hansei Tan, Saadhyan Ragulan, Aneesh Punage (all Upper Eighth) and Oscar McKinnon (Lower Eighth) – placed third out of ten teams in a tournament at Dulwich College, winning matches against Whitgift B, Dulwich B, Reed’s and Epsom. They lost only to Wilson’s School, who finished second behind Whitgift A.

Congratulations to all players and, in particular, to Hansei and Saadhyan who both won 11/12 matches they played.

Cricket

It was a challenging set of fixtures on Saturday vs the very strong Whitgift School, with only the U14Bs and U14Cs recording victories. The most notable performance was Zac Martyn’s (Fifth Form) 5-19 off six overs, including a hat trick, for the U15As.

Earlier in the week, the 1st and 2nd XIs, defeated Tiffin School.

After tough draws, the U14s and U15s were knocked out of their respective Surrey cup competitions.