AFTER finishing third last year the Okehampton Community College Under 16 girls’ table tennis team has again qualified for the finals of the English Schools’ Table Tennis Association Butterfly National Team Championship to be played at Hinckley Leisure Centre, Leicestershire on Saturday, March 25.

More than 270 teams, all of them already county champions, set out on this journey with just 32 teams qualifying to take part in one of the eight events which make up the finals.

Success in their zone final in January was followed by a regional final in Bristol (one of four around the country) at which the team of Emily Haskell, Mari Baldwin, Zoe Bennett and Megan Brogan emerged victorious over teams from Gloucestershire, London and Kent.

To take the final step to become Butterfly National Schools’ champions the girls will need to be at their very best at the finals to overcome opponents from Burlington Danes Academy from London and Ackworth School from West Yorkshire as well as the current title holders, Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School.

The likelihood is that the finals will produce a series of hard-fought matches and much excitement.