Oratory trio shine at World Junior Championships

THREE Oratory School pupils competed in the World Junior Championships in Bordeaux.

Archie Watson, Ethan Milton and Joseph Bradley qualified for the event earlier this year.

Watson, who lives in Woodcote and earlier this year won the U19 and U17 French Open, finished in seventh place having given a good account of himself against the number two in the quarter final. Caversham’s Milton faced the difficult task of toppling the eventual finalist in the last 16 before finally finishing in 14th place while Bradley, from Checkendon, finished eighth but had one of the performances of the week where he had two match points against the number one seed and eventual winner, narrowly losing the deciding set 6-5.

Speaking after the event, Claire Fahey, head of Oratory racquets and the ladies’ world champion, said: “I am very proud of the boys. To qualify for this event was a great achievement and to see them perform so well against juniors from other parts of the UK, Australia, France and the US was a good indicator of the strength of real tennis at The Oratory.”