Three Stoke Newington School pupils lead Gunners to victory

Arsenal were crowned PL4S 2012 National Badminton champions in Milton Keynes last Saturday thanks to the efforts of three Stoke Newington School pupils.

The Gunners’ team included Shariff Shamsudeen, Ben Bristow-Harris and Sam Matthias-Stanley who are also members of the Black Arrows Badminton Club, alongside Archway’s Billy May.

In the group stages of the competition, the Arsenal boys beat Stoke City and Liverpool, both by a scoreline of 5-0, before meeting Aston Villa in the semi-finals.

The semi-final round saw two of the strongest teams in the competition face each other and Arsenal’s number-one Shamsudeen narrowly lost 21-15, giving Villa a 1-0 lead.

However, Bristow-Harris and Matthias-Stanley combined well in their doubles match to win 21-14 and bring the score to 1-1.

May then came from behind to win 21-13 and put Arsenal 2-1 up, before all four boys won their doubles matches to secure a 4-1 victory and a place in the final against Hull City.

The boys then saved their best form for the final, with Shamsudeen putting Arsenal 1-0 up before Hull equalised.

However, the Gunners proved too strong for their opposition, running out 4-1 winners to clinch the title.