England girls win gold, Bethany Yang completes double triumph in Largs

England’s youngest internationals used Largs to make a clear case for the strength of the school pathway, with Bethany Yang finishing the weekend as a double gold medallist and the England girls powering to team gold at the Primary Schools International.

At the sportscotland National Sports Training Centre in Inverclyde, from Friday 10 to Sunday 12 April 2026, England faced Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey across the team events before the singles phase closed the competition on Sunday. For an under-11 event, the level of control England showed was striking. The girls, Cindy Xiao, Hattie Xiao, Isabella Xiao Xu and Bethany Yang, barely gave the field a foothold as they opened with back-to-back 10-0 wins over Guernsey and Scotland B.

That dominance held through the rest of the group stage. England beat Jersey 10-0 and Wales 10-0, then followed with a 9-1 win over Scotland B and another 9-1 result against Ireland to secure the team gold. The scores tell the story of a squad that not only had the top end to win match after match, but the depth to keep pressure on every opponent from the first tie to the last.

The boys were just as convincing until the final round. Jacob Dennison, Daniyal Janmohamed, Lok Hei (Hayfield) Lam and Dominic Rimmy opened with 10-0 wins over Guernsey and Scotland B, then added victories over Jersey and Wales. Their decider against Ireland turned into the closest tie of the weekend, finishing 5-5 and leaving England with silver after a hard-fought final round that showed how little there was between the leading nations at this level.

Yang’s singles gold gave England the headline result of the tournament, and it also sharpened the bigger question around what this age-group success means. The answer sits in the structure around the players. Selection came through Table Tennis England’s schools pathway, with players needing to be under 11 on 31 August in the previous year and to have played in the National Schools Individual Championships. Cindy Xiao’s fourth successive call-up underlined the value of continuity, while the mix of returning names and first-time representatives showed a pipeline built to reward both experience and progression.

England’s recent record at the event backs that up. In 2025, the country retained both team titles and won five singles medals. In 2024, England again took both team events and collected six singles medals. Yang’s double triumph in Largs does more than add another trophy to the cabinet. It points to a junior system producing players who already understand how to win under pressure, in both team and singles formats, before they have even reached the age-group level where many senior careers begin to take shape.