BUDMOUTH Under-16 boys battled to finish third in the National Team Championships at Hinckley.

The Weymouth team also boast the impressive record of only suffering one defeat all season, with that being at the hands of Ackworth whose players are all ranked in the top 15 in the country and make up part of the England Youth Squad.

Having qualified from winning the county title, the Zonal final in Plymouth and then the Regional final in Bristol, the team were tasked with competing against the other three top schools in the country.

The team consisted of Will Jolliffe, Ethan Gear, Jamie Blair and Tom Lydford. In the first match, Budmouth took on Ackworth, who have recently be chosen as the new National Talent Academy, and boast youngsters who play in the England youth set-up.

The Ackworth team lived up to their billing and were far too strong for the other three schools in the final, winning all of their matches 8-0.

In their second match, Budmouth took on Ernest Bevin. Blair got the Budmouth team off to a good start with a 3-0 win, but this was soon cancelled out when Jolliffe lost in four legs to the Tooting number one ranked player, Zion Boumpoutou.

Gear then won a very close encounter 11-9 in the fourth leg to restore Budmouth’s lead, but Lydford then lost to their third ranked player to level the score at the halfway point.

After Blair had beaten the aforementioned Boumpoutou in four close legs, Budmouth then went 4-3 behind after back-to-back 3-0 defeats for Jolliffe and Gear.

That left Lydford to try and salvage a draw against their fourth ranked player, Adam Benmohamed. Having won the first leg 11-8, Lydford then lost a very close second leg 14-12 but the youngster’s fighting qualities came to the fore as he nicked the next two legs 11-9 to achieve a 4-4 draw for his team in the first game.

In Budmouth’s third match, the Range number one player, Yameen Al-Dahiri, was too strong for Jolliffe and then it was Blair’s turn against a very talented Josh Parker.

Having lost the first leg Blair then won the next two and looked to be heading for victory but Parker came back well to level at two legs each. The deciding leg was tense and level at 7-7 but Blair produced some great shots to secure an 11-7 victory.

After a 3-0 defeat for Lydford, Gear stepped up and won a close match 11-4 in the fifth leg to bring the overall scores level at halfway.

Blair then lost his only match apart from the Ackworth defeats, but Jolliffe came to the rescue with a great 14-12 victory in the fourth leg.

With Gear losing to Parker in four close legs, it was again down to Lydford to try and salvage a draw and ensure Budmouth finished in third place overall.

Saving his best performance to the end, he destroyed the Range number four player, Felix Anderson, 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 to relieve all the pressure and enable the Budmouth boys to be declared the third best team in the country.