Press Correspondent:   Peter Thompson      
ETTA Senior Coach
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Nicole Finishes Season with a Double

Pudsey Table tennis clubs cadet girl Nicole Finn made the trip to Burton on Trent at the weekend to compete in the Burton Uxbridge Junior 2 star summer series.

Nicole seeded three in the cadet event on the Saturday came through the group stages without dropping an end to face Emily Roys from Grantham in the semi-final. Emily having beaten Nicole in three finals this year was to find the backhand topspin of Nicole too strong as she established a 2 -0 lead. Emily took the next to eight but Nicole won the fourth game to face number one seed Jess Birbeck in the final. Nicole showing good determination coming from a 2-1 games deficit to win a thrilling final 11-9 in the fifth to take the title.

The Cadet girls events on the Sunday was a round robin event with Nicole now seeded two. Nicole won her three opening matches before facing Jess Birbeck again and like in the final on Saturday it was down to the fifth end. With both girls playing well Nicole scraped home 12-10 in the fifth end. Victory in her last match over Leah Richardson 3-0 was enough to give Nicole the title and a Cadet girls double over the weekend. She also finished runner up over the series having only competed in two out of the three series.

In the junior girls event on the Sunday Nicole progressed to reach the semi- final to set up another encounter with Jess and again came out on top this time in four ends. Facing Isobel Ashley from Derbyshire in the final Nicole lost a hard fought girl’s final 3-2.
At the recently held Yorkshire Table Tennis Association dinner Nicole was recently awarded the George Turton trophy for the most improved cadet player in Yorkshire. This was the culmination of a season which has seen Nicole climb rapidly up the England rankings, win four cadet girls open tournaments, and been picked to attend the England Youth development squad.