THE Richmondshire youth tennis team proved they were the best in North Yorkshire when they played an outstanding match to beat York in the final of the North Yorkshire Youth Games.

The tournament, held at Harrogate, saw tennis teams competing from all over the county.

In extremely warm and difficult conditions, the Richmondshire team came through their group matches with ease, beating Selby and Harrogate to set up a final against last year's winners York.

In a tight contest, Richmondshire's number one boy, Ben Ivory, and mixed doubles team Melanie Chapman and Hamish Sampson won their first round matches. In the second round, their number two boy, Edward Granger, had an easy win to give the team a 3-2 victory.

Tania Deacon, team coach and manager, said: "The team played some excellent tennis throughout the tournament and deserved to win."

Anyone interested in representing Richmondshire at next year's Youth Games tournament should telephone Tania Deacon on 01748 832620.

Tania is also running coaching courses throughout the summer in the Richmond area. Anyone interested should give her a call for further details.