EIGHT Suffolk youngsters did their county proud at the LTA area Inter-County Championships in Welwyn Garden City recently.Playing at Gosling Sports Park, the nine years and under boys and girls teams met the cream of mini-orange tennis from eight other counties - Befordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Northamptonshire.

EIGHT Suffolk youngsters did their county proud at the LTA area Inter-County Championships in Welwyn Garden City recently.

Playing at Gosling Sports Park, the nine years and under boys and girls teams met the cream of mini-orange tennis from eight other counties - Befordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Northamptonshire.

The boys - William Cooke-Wharton (Culford), Oscar Cutting, Seth Mayhew and Jonathan Simmonds (all Next generation) fought hard in their individual singles matches to gain third place and a bronze medal, Cooke-Wharton holding his nerve in a sudden death decider.

Meanwhile, the girls - Nia Braidford, Georgia Davies (both Next Generation), Florence Kenworthy (Felixstowe) and Florence McCausland (Framlingham) - put in a brave effort to clinch seventh place.

Both teams were represented by LTA performance coaches Ollie Sutton and Matt Hough, who are both based at Next Generation.