b'SPORTING SUCCESSWe also had a number of notable individual sporting successes. international debut in a 5-1 victory.Year 8 pupil Kai Dawkins became National Karate Champion;Another former pupil, Aden George, who is now 18, made his Year 11 pupil Hamza Mir became West Midlands Boxingfirst appearance for Birmingham City FC U23s at the end of last Champion. Hamza Arif in Year 7 represented Worcestershire atseason against Leeds United. Aden has actually been in the cricket. Birmingham City first team squad this season, although he is yet Mohammed Rafae Ajaz in Year 8 became Tai Kwon Do Worldto make his first team debut for the club. He has been attracting Champion as part of a tag team and was ranked number onethe attention of bigger clubs, so we look forward to watching his in the country. Umar Farooq in Year 11 was also part of a Worldprogress with interest.Champion Tai Kwon Do team. Former HGS pupil Corey Blackett Taylor also hit the headlines Amar Rupra continued to represent the City of Birminghamin the third round of the FA Cup as he inspired Tranmere Rovers basketball team, and Will Smith in Year 13 became the WestFC to a remarkable 3-3 draw with Premier League club Watford Midlands boxing champion in his weight category. after they were 3-0 down at half-time. Tranmere then defeated Watford 2-1, but sadly the fairy tale ended then as Tranmere In football, Arjun Toor signed for Walsall FCs academy, andwere comprehensively beaten by Manchester United in the next both Nigel Agboola and Ty Barnett signed for Wolverhamptonround.Wanderers Football Club. Indeed, Ty in Year 10 became ourAll in all, as you can see this has been another exciting year of first international footballer for many years when he played forschool sport for our students and we look forward to even more England U15s against Turkey in a game at St Georges Parksuccess next year.in Staffordshire, just before Christmas. He also scored on hisSPORTSHALL ATHLETICS This year, the Year 7 and 8 Athletics team competed in the Level 2 Birmingham Sportshall athletics event. Many boys made their debut sporting performances for the school, and the Year 7 team came in first with the Year 8 team third. This meant that the Year 7 team qualified to represent the region in the Birmingham City Games.Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, this event had to be cancelled. However, the Year 7 team are focused and ready to compete when they return in the 20-21YEAR 10 HANDBALLseason. There were some outstanding performances from both year groups. Finishing first in their events The Year 10 Handball team had a strong start to the season with a tournamentwere Michael, Neeraj, Josh, Thane, Nihaal and Haisem.win at the Level 2 School Games competition, hosted at HGS. For winning this tournament, the team were selected to represent the region at the Birmingham City(Year 7 team: Josh McCabe, Ridhwaan Ahmed, Rayan Games. Mathieson, Ruben Tchamo, Thane Haughton, Michael Ogunlola and Neeraj Rehan)Karanjit Virdi (10H) gives his account of the competition:The Year 10 Handball team represented our region in the Birmingham City Games. Overall, it was a great day with both nail-biting and disappointing moments. Our first game against the University of Birmingham School ended in a disappointing last-minute draw 7-7 with the opposition scoring seconds before the whistle. It was acceptable as it was our first game and we were warming up. Our next game was against Small Heath, who had some big lads defending but poor passing and shooting, so we took advantage and gained some goal difference points. Mr Gallagher, being the good coach he is, exploited their weaknesses and came up with different tactics ending in a solid 8-2 victory. The next game was against Plantsbrook and finished with a close 6-5 victory. Maneet made excellent saves as usual, Nathan screened defenders and Yaseen towered over the oppositions defence. This team had good coordination and exploited the wings; however, they failed to deliver the goals needed.Now that we were placed top of our pool we firmed our place in the semi-finals and(Year 8 team: Haisem Zeino, Reuben Esmerguzeli, we were all looking to the trophy. Despite our undefeated streak, this game wasNihaal Ahmed, Kai Dawkins, Daniel Chikwizo, Umar-not the nicest. We had an advantageous lead of 5-3 against Bartley Green until ourFaarooq Jeewa and David Fadairo)team fell apart. We were all tired, Taylor had a cramp in his calf and their attack was unpredictable and so the game ended in a disappointing defeat of 8-6. We knew our chance for the trophy had gone but there was still the bronze. Determined to go home with something we came back with a crushing 7-0 victory. We missed out on taking a trophy back to school but we won something. We all had a great time, learnt something and would love another experience like this. (Full team: Maneet Khera, Faisal Jajeh, Jake Gloag, Taylor Bewry, Chabota Changula, Yaseen Ahmed, Nathan Mhlanga, Zakir Khan, Karanjit Virdi and Rahim Ali)39'