Sporting students from Coleg Gwent powered their way to the top of the table at the British Colleges Sports National Championships, scooping one silver and one bronze medal in the table tennis competitions.
Thirty-three students from Coleg Gwent were selected to represent Wales at the championships and were among more than 2000 students and staff from across the UK at the event, held at Bath University.
Coleg Gwent students competed in the table tennis, swimming, trampolining, netball, tennis, badminton and cross country events, having already made it through the regional finals to be chosen to compete against the other UK regions.
A-level students at the college’s Crosskeys Campus, Laura Price, 17 and Reece Lo, 18, took home the silver and bronze medals respectively in the table tennis singles competition.
Having played table tennis at the highest level for more than seven years, Reece Lo from Newbridge, represents North Gwent Table Tennis Club and is a regular at national under 18 tournaments.
Currently in the first year of studying A-Levels in maths, physics, chemistry and business studies, Reece hopes to go to Cardiff University in 2013 where he can continue to pursue his academic and table tennis career.
He said: “I am definitely coming back to the national championships next year and am aiming for an even better result. To get through the regional competition to represent Wales in the finals was a real honour and something I’d like to do more of.”
Emma Hurley, sport lecturer at Coleg Gwent accompanied the students to this year’s national championships.
She said: “All our students worked tremendously hard to earn their places in the finals and to have 33 students from one college representing the whole of Wales is a fantastic achievement. Even those who didn’t earn a medal can be extremely proud of themselves, not only did they battle and win their regional heats to get to the championships, they were up against the UK’s college elite, some of whom are competing in this year’s London Olympics.”