Darlington's Andrew Leighton, Mark Simpson, Claire Wilson and Joanne Meads are heading for the south coast for the national junior trials after winning their way through the Northern equivalent last Sunday.
Leighton and Simpson qualified in the Under-14 boys along with Ormesby's Paul Drinkhall and Simon Donnelly. After a brilliant run of victories, David Meads had been one of the favourites but he had a disaster day which ended with the final place play-off and a three-set defeat by clubmate Mark Simpson. Claire Wilson and Joanne Meads dominated the Uunder-14 girls event with Wilson unbeaten.
Ormesby's Bryn Drinkhall also experienceda bad day. After suffering three shock defeats, the North's top junior eventually clinched a place in the national finals.
This weekend will be hectic for the Darlington youngsters. On Saturday Andrew Leighton, Ryan Rafferty, David Meads, Mark Simpson, Claire Wilson and Joanne Meads form the Durham County team travelling to Grantham where Conwy, Northants and Nottinghamshire will be their opponents in the second round of county championships.
On Sunday Darlington's Under-14 boys travel to Leeds for the opening matches in the national team competition, the Johnny Leach Cup. Andrew Leighton, David Meads, Mark Simpson and Phillip Robinson will face opponents from Leeds, Bradford and Salford.
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