Sports Report

We are delighted to highlight a number of achievements across rowing, swimming, tennis, athletics, cycling and cricket.

ROWING – HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA

The 1st VIII raced a tight, fair and nail-biting final of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, ultimately losing to St Edward’s School in what most spectators will have regarded as the race of the day. Both crews did their schools proud, not only in their rowing, but also in their sportsmanship afterwards when they met in the boat tent. For St Edward’s, this was their first final since 2014 and their first win since 1999. St Paul’s have been out of the final only twice since their win in 2015.

SWIMMING

Inian Dhandapani (Fourth Form) represented Ealing Borough in the London Youth Games Swimming competition last weekend at the London Aquatics Centre. He achieved a PB in the 50m Fly with 32.92 in 13th position and was part of the Ealing 50m freestyle relay team (his leg 28.94), with the team finishing in 12th position.

TENNIS

It has been a busy and excitement-filled Summer Term for Tennis, from competitions ranging to both home and away league fixtures, friendly block fixtures with our partnership schools, tennis festivals, and ISTA national finals.

Nabil Alizadeh (Lower Eighth) played in the LTA men’s nationals British Tour tennis tournament. He made it through two tough qualifying matches to progress to the main draw, where he lost to number 16 in the country and the eventual winner of the competition.

ISL

The term began with the Independent School’s League competition on Saturday, 22 April, with St Paul’s entering three age group teams, with both U14 and U15 age groups competing as juniors and U18’s competing as seniors. Our junior age group teams won their group with 36 sets, beating Bradfield, Reeds and Cranleigh, and our seniors came 4th in their group stage.

Surrey Schools Festival

Three pairs from St Paul’s School travelled to St George’s Weybridge on Thursday, 4 May 2023, to compete in the Surrey Schools Festival of Tennis. Our U18 pair had some tough matches, getting knocked out of the competition in the group stages. However, they were the only pair in their group to take games from the eventual winners of the tournament for their age, which is a brilliant achievement! Our U14 and U16 pairs both performed strongly through their group stages and quarter-finals; however, both, unfortunately, were knocked out during their semi-final stage matches. All pairs performed outstandingly, with several sets of tennis played throughout the day against various schools.

Surrey League

We have had a busy term with Surrey League matches across three St Paul’s School representing teams; U15A, U15B and U18A. Both of our U15 teams finished second in their group stage boxes, narrowly missing out on championship finals day spaces by a matter of points, with our U15A team only losing one box stage match to RGS Guildford (5-4) and our U15B team losing two matches, one very narrowly by one game, and winning against Claremont. Both teams performed brilliantly across the term, with several students being able to represent the school in these league fixtures. Our U18A team won their group stage box and progressed through to the Surrey League Championship Finals Day on Tuesday, 27 June. They, unfortunately, lost their semi-final match to KCS Wimbledon; however, it was a brilliant achievement for the team to earn their place and experience the finals day, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Eton – ISTA National Championships 2023

On Saturday, 1 July, at Eton College, our two U15 doubles pairs and our U18 team of four began their competition at the ISTA National Championships 2023. We had a very successful day one, with our U18 team winning their Round 1 matches against Loughborough GS 2-0 and progressing onto the next round, our U15 Pair 1 winning their group box, progressing into knockouts, and our U15 Pair 2 coming second in their group box progressing to knockouts also both in the Thomas Bowl Cup.

Day two on Sunday, 2 July, saw our U18 team win their second-round matches against Rugby School 2-0, progressing into the final 16 knock-out rounds the following day. Our U15 pairs, unfortunately, lost their Thomas Bowl knockout matches to KCS and HABS, so both teams were entered into the Springthorpe Cup starting the following day also.

Day 3 on Monday, 3 July, was our final day at Eton College, with our U18 team, unfortunately, being knocked out of the competition by St George’s, just missing their place in the quarter-finals, as well as our U15 Pair two being knocked out of the Springthorpe Cup by St George’s also missing their place into the quarter-finals. Our U15 pair one had a very strong last 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals match against Eton (6-0), Epsom (6-4) and St George’s (6-2). Unfortunately, the pair had a very tough finals match against Reeds School but were crowned as the eventual runners-up of the Springthorpe Cup competition, which was a fantastic achievement for Konstantin Vujnovic and Shlok Poddar!

Friendly Block fixtures

Across several Saturday mornings and age group games sessions, we have also been able to schedule various block-friendly fixtures against local partnership schools such as Harrodian, KCS Wimbledon and Dulwich. These competitions have allowed us to select up to 12 boys per age group to compete in several singles and doubles matches. We have had brilliant representation from St Paul’s School across our U14, U15 and U18 age groups, with as many boys participating and taking part in these Tennis fixtures as possible.

The tennis season has been filled with some great performances and lots of fun across the term. We would like to congratulate all our students who represented St Paul’s this year in our various competitions across the squads.

ATHLETICS

Over the weekend, Max Bishop (Lower Eighth) and Alex Pama (Upper Eighth) were in action at the English Schools Athletics Championships in Birmingham. Max finished in fourth place in his 800m heat, narrowly missing out on a place in the final. Alex threw exceptionally well to finish fifth in the shot put with a distance of 15.22m, just 3cm shy of his personal best and school record. It was a very appropriate way to round off what has been a highly distinguished sporting career at St Paul’s for Alex.

CYCLING

Tom Owens (Lower Eighth) completed the Dunwich Dynamo this weekend – this is a 200km cycle ride which takes place overnight starting at 9pm and lasting about 7.5 hours.

CRICKET

The 1st XI cricket team have had a remarkable season winning 9 out of our 10 completed matches, including stunning wins against Merchant Taylors’, Reed’s and RGS Guildford. We would likely have won more matches had rain not caused various abandonments (two) and cancellations (three).

Our junior sides have also been very successful this season. The U14As won all but one of their Saturday fixtures, while the U15As lost just two (including to Merchant Taylors’ by 1 run). The U14BCs and U15BCs also won most of their matches, demonstrating that there is not only huge strength but depth within St Paul’s cricket. A one-off U16 side won the annual T20 tournament against Hampton, KCS and Dulwich two weeks ago.

Our final match of the season is tomorrow, with the 1st XI playing the MCC starting at 11.30am on the main square. Please do feel free to come and watch once the term has finished. Please do note, however, as per the School’s alcohol policy, those members of staff that have had an alcoholic drink at the staff lunch should not attend.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff who have been involved with cricket this term, including all coaching staff, support staff and, in particular, the grounds team (Marcin, Dan and Dave), who have done a phenomenal job under difficult circumstances at times.