Under-16 basketball boys bidding for better

Raines Foundation’s under-16 boys will represent Tower Hamlets at the London Youth Games basketball finals later this month.

Having won the borough competition at the Score Centre in Leyton last year, they beat Hackney’s Urswick and Teddington, of Richmond, in the next stage to progress.

And they will be hoping to improve on last year’s third-place finish when they return to the Score Centre on March 29, with head of PE David Patten saying: “The under-16 boys have juggled revision for their upcoming GCSE exams and training for basketball extremely well.

“They are in at 7.30am to train three times a week and have shown excellent commitment and resilience to get to the finals. Well done.”

Basketball head coach Laurent Irish added: “The under-16 boys are the leaders of the basketball programme at Raines. They lead warm-ups and are role models to the younger players at the school.

“Getting to the London Youth Games finals is a testament to their skill levels and on-court supremacy in this part of London.”