All-conquering young Archway Aces taste international glory

By Alan Swann
Published 5th Apr 2023, 15:00 BST
Updated 5th Apr 2023, 18:07 BST
​Archway’s England A team stars, from left, Zihan Lin, Wilson Zheng, Kai Lun Chow and Lewis Wu.​Archway’s England A team stars, from left, Zihan Lin, Wilson Zheng, Kai Lun Chow and Lewis Wu.
​Archway’s England A team stars, from left, Zihan Lin, Wilson Zheng, Kai Lun Chow and Lewis Wu.
​The all-conquering squad of Archway Table Tennis Club youngsters have now savoured international success.

Archway provided all four members of the England A boys squad and two members of the England A girls squad at the Primary Schools International competition at Oundle School.

And Zihan Li (Longthorpe), Wilson Zheng (Southfields), Kai Lun Chow (Newton) and Lewis Wu (Coates) won the team gold for the boys after seeing off opposition from England B, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales. Jersey and Scotland after some high class action.

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And Amber Lemmon (Hampton Hargate) and Hannah Saunders (King’s) were part of the England Girls A team that also won the gold medal.

Successful Archway players from the Home International Championships, from left, Cindy Xiao, Amber Lemmon and Hannah Saunders.Successful Archway players from the Home International Championships, from left, Cindy Xiao, Amber Lemmon and Hannah Saunders.
Successful Archway players from the Home International Championships, from left, Cindy Xiao, Amber Lemmon and Hannah Saunders.

Hannah (10) recently became the youngest winner of the Cambs County Womens singles title.

Cindy Xiao (Woodston) was part of the England Girls B team that finished second.

There was also an individual competition which led to silver medals for Hannah Saunders and Kai Lun Chow and bronze medals for Amber Lemmon and Zihan Lin.

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“It’s another set of brilliant results for the city, the schools, the Archway club and of course the players,” said Archway club chairman Julian Tee.

“It has been a great privilege to see so many of our club’s future stars being picked so young to represent England in the Home Nations Internationals.

"The players have only been playing for three years, including pandemic interrupted time, and to have improved this much is a credit to their dedication and commitment.

"The club thanks our ‘Hopes’ squad head coach Hong Hong Peebles for her outstanding achievements of ensuring they have met the grade to represent their country.

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“If anyone aged 6-14 wants to emulate these players please ask your parents to contact Steve Williams on 07957 132257 who will arrange for free table tennis coaching in our weekday after school or weekend group lessons, and/or school holiday or taster sessions.”

Archway is based at 282-286 Lincoln Road, Millfield,