BECKFOOT School's under-19 boys' team and Bradford Grammar School's under-19 girls' team, who were runners-up last year, have both qualified for the finals of the English Schools’ Table Tennis Association's Butterfly National Team Championships.

The finals will be played on Saturday at Hinckley Leisure Centre in Leicestershire.

Over 270 teams, all of them already county champions, set out on the journey to finals day, with just 32 teams qualifying to take part in one of the eight events.

Success in January's zone finals for both teams was followed by them getting through the regional finals at Grantham.

Beckfoot's team of Will Nash, Ezra Slater, Reuben Bunting, Oliver Bryant and James Gresswell narrowly defeated teams from Cleveland, Shropshire and hosts Lincolnshire.

Their rivals on Saturday are Harefield Academy (London), Whitgift School (Croydon) and Cardinal Newman College (Preston).

The Bradford Grammar School's girls' team comprised Hibah Mahmood and Sophie Yung, and their three rivals for the title are Horsforth School (Leeds), Harefield Academy (London) and Tudor Grange Academy from Solihull in Warwickshire.

Beckfoot, who initially won the West Yorkshire title and have their own Table Tennis Development Centre, have triumphed in all eight of their matches so far, defeating teams from Pontefract, Bradford Grammar School, Nottingham, Leicester, Rochdale, Middlesbrough, Shrewsbury and Grantham.

Nash, 17, Slater, 16, and Bunting, 15, were all late starters in the sport, taking it up aged 11 or 12, whereas starting ages in China tends to be four, five or six, or at worst seven to ten.

Bryant and Gresswell, who are both 12, have also made significant contributions to the team, despite their rankings being lower than their opponents.

Beckfoot's under-15 boys' team have won the Bradford Schools' Sports Day, qualifying them for the West Yorkshire School Sports' Day finals in Leeds, which is also this Saturday.

The under-13 boys' won a silver medal.

Anyone interested in playing at the development centre should contact coach Hans Soova on 07870-917581.