St Paul’s dominate the West of England Schools Championships

Sherborne School, Dorset
Saturday/Sunday, 17-18 January 2026

STOP PRESS St Paul’s repeated last year’s performance in winning the U18 Singles, U18 Doubles and U16 Singles, while Alleyn’s displaced Winchester as winners of the U16 Doubles.

History was made by the Hammond Giles family, with Freddie winning the U18 Singles title for the third year in a row and then the Doubles with his partner Josh Ferro, also for a third consecutive year. Meanwhile his younger brother Joey won the U16 Singles, beating fellow Pauline Alex Ponte in the final. Joey was unable, though, to make it a clean sweep for St Paul’s, losing with Thomas Outred in the final of the U16 Doubles to the Alleyn’s first pair of Rumi Kohashi-Kahn & Freddie McAllister.

Derby Moor had a good weekend, winning the U18 Singles Plate, the U18 Doubles Bowl and the U16 Doubles Plate, plus Val Fikhter winning Silver in the U18 Singles. Host school Sherborne won the U18 Doubles Plate, the U16 Singles Bowl, and were finalists in the U16 Doubles Plate. Stamford’s Connor McNaughton won the U18 Singles Bowl and was a finalist with partner Charlie Sharpe in the U18 Doubles Bowl. Winchester’s Arthur James-Duff & Zach Goulding won Silver for a second time in the U18 Doubles, with Arthur winning the 3rd place play-off in the U18 Singles. Winchester also had both finalists in the U16 Singles Plate.

It was good to see an entry from Radley, UCS and Marlborough, and to see the continued rise of players from Mount Kelly.

The RFA’s thanks go to parents and coaches, to the players, the host school, and particularly to Sam Roberts, Alex Smith, Jamie McManus and Chris Blakeley for their support of this invaluable schools event.

Scores

U18 Singles

1st round: D Cheung (StP) bt F Mason (Rad) 15-1
2nd round: F Hammond Giles bt H Bishop (Sher) 15-0; R Jones (Stam) bt N Wong (Win) 15-12; C McNaughton (Stam) bt J Liu (Win) 15-1; T Munaretto-Day (Win) bt C Rollo (UCS) 15-5; J Ferro (StP) bt F Schelin (Rad) 15-2; C Sharpe (Stam) bt M Staryk (Derby) 15-4; T Moesel (Sher) bt C Burrows (Stam) 15-6; A James-Duff (Win) bt Cheung 15-1; T Ritchie (StP) bt F Carian (Rad) 15-1; J Moesel (Sher) bt E Efthimiou (StP) 15-7; P Mannion Miles (Win) bt J Graham (Sher) 15-3; N Cortas (StP) bt I Corrie (Marl) 15-1; Z Goulding (Win) bt R Vines (Stam) 15-2; Z Okada (StP) bt W Vella (Stam) 15-1; L Ferro (StP) bt H Koma (Rad) 15-4; V Fikhter (YClub) bt W Horton (Sher) 15-2
3rd round: Hammond Giles bt Jones 15-0; Munaretto-Day bt McNaughton 16-14; Ferro bt Sharpe 15-6; James-Duff bt Moesel 15-3; Ritchie bt Moesel 15-6; Cortas bt Mannion Miles 15-7; Okada bt Goulding 15-12; Fikhter bt Ferro 15-0
Quarter-finals: Hammond Giles bt Munaretto-Day 11-0, 11-2; James-Duff bt Ferro 12-11, 12-11; Ritchie bt Cortas 12-10, 12-11; Fikhter bt Okada 11-2, 11-1
Semi-finals: Hammond Giles bt James-Duff 11-0, 11-0; Fikhter bt Ritchie 11-4, 11-4
Final: F Hammond Giles (St Paul’s) bt V Fikhter (Manchester Y Club) 11-3, 11-0

3rd/4th place match: A James-Duff (Winchester) bt T Ritchie (St Paul’s) 15-6
Plate: M Staryk (Derby Moor) bt C Rollo (UCS) 15-7
Bowl: C McNaughton (Stamford) bt Z Goulding (Winchester) 15-6

U18 Doubles

1st round: Mount Kelly 3 bt Radley 2 15-11; Mount Kelly 2 bt Sherborne 2 15-1
2nd round: St Paul’s 1 bt Mount Kelly 3 15-0; Mount Kelly 1 bt Winchester 3 15-8 ; St Paul’s 3 bt Stamford 2 15-3; Derby Moor bt Radley 1 15-0; St Paul’s 2 bt Stamford 3 15-2; Winchester 2 bt St Paul’s 4 15-2; Stamford 1 bt Sherborne 1 15-9; Winchester 1 bt Mount Kelly 2 15-1
Quarter-finals: St Paul’s 1 bt Mount Kelly 1 11-0, (11-0); St Paul’s 3 bt Derby Moor 11-5, 11-2; Winchester 2 bt St Paul’s 2 11-0. 8-11, 11-9; Winchester 1 bt Stamford 1 6-11, 11-8, 11-6
Semi-finals: St Paul’s 1 bt St Paul’s 3 11-1, 11-1; Winchester 1 bt Winchester 2 11-6, 11-3
Final: St Paul’s 1 (J Ferro & F Hammond Giles) bt Winchester 1 (Z Goulding & A James-Duff) 11-1, 11-0
Plate: Sherborne 1 (J Graham & J Moesel) bt Winchester 3 (J Liu & N Wong) 15-5
Bowl: Derby Moor (V Fikhter & M Staryk) bt Stamford 1 (C McNaughton & C Sharpe) 11-7, 11-5

U16 Singles

1st round: R Xie (Marl) bt R Dhital (Win) 15-4, T Outred (StP) bt S Negyal (All) 15-7; A Bhalodia (StP) bt L Kim (Rad) 15-0; R Puri (StP) bt A Wilson (Sher) 15-3; H Franks (Win) bt J Adams (MKel) 15-3; F McAllister (All) bt H Crossthwaite (Marl) 15-1; W Lee (Win) bt A Tursi (Sher) 15-8; H Hill (Malv) bt I Wang (Win) 15-3; Z Winson Yates (Derby) bt S Stannah (Win) 15-1; R Kohashi-Khan (All) bt S Pereire-Pilling (Rad) 15-1; H Fletcher (Marl) bt X Aparicio (Sher) 15-1; I Baijal (StP) bt F Ayling (MKel) 15-1; T Green (All) bt J Adams (MKel) 15-0
2nd round: J Hammond Giles (StP) bt Xie 15-0; Bhalodia bt Outred 15-6; Puri bt Franks 15-8; McAllister bt Lee 15-3; A Ponte (StP) bt Hill 15-3; Kohashi-Khan bt Winson Yates 15-11; Fletcher bt Baijal 15-1; Green bt L Carnegie (Win) 15-8
Quarter-finals: Hammond Giles bt Bhalodia 11-7, 11-1; McAllister bt Puri 11-8, 11-5; Ponte bt Kohashi-Khan 11-5, 11-8; Green bt Fletcher 9-11, 11-2, 12-11
Semi-finals: Hammond Giles bt McAllister 11-6, 11-3; Ponte bt Green 6-11, 12-11, w/o
Final: J Hammond Giles (St Paul’s) bt A Ponte (St Paul’s) 11-1, 11-3
3rd/4th place match: F McAllister (Alleyn’s) bt T Green (Alleyn’s) 15-8
Plate: H Franks (Winchester) bt L Carnegie (Winchester) 15-5
Bowl: A Wilson (Sherborne) bt H Crossthwaite (Marlborough) 11-10

U16 Doubles

1st round: Alleyn’s 2 bt Winchester 3 15-2; Mount Kelly 2 bt Derby Moor 15-8: Alleyn’s 1 bt Sherborne 15-0; St Paul’s 2 bt Mount Kelly 3 15-2; Winchester 2 bt Mount Kelly 1 15-4; St Paul’s 3 bt Radley 15-0
Quarter-finals: St Paul’s 1 bt Alleyn’s 2 6-11, 11-4, 11-9; Alleyn’s 1 bt Mount Kelly 2 11-1, 11-1; St Paul’s 2 bt Winchester 2 11-1, 11-3; Winchester 1 bt St Paul’s 3 12-10, 11-9
Semi-finals: Alleyn’s 1 bt St Paul’s 1 11-9, 9-11, 11-9; St Paul’s 2 bt Winchester 1 11-3, 11-7
Final: Alleyn’s 1 (R Kohashi-Khan & F McAllister) bt St Paul’s 2 (J Hammond Giles & T Outred) 11-6, 11-8
Plate: Derby Moor (H Hill & Z Winson Yates) bt Sherborne (A Tursi & H Walker) 15-3