Boy, 10, receives new TV from his mother after winning diving competition

A BOY won a diving competition after being promised a television by his mother.

Thomas Oxlade, 10, a pupil at Sonning Common Primary School, beat 16 rivals at the East Regional Skills Qualifier in Southend.

His mother Wendy had promised him a TV for his bedroom as an incentive. Thomas was previously gifted a Nintendo Switch after winning the Peter Waterfield Invitational Novice Competition in Southampton in November.

Mrs Oxlade: “I didn’t think he would win so I promised him yet again a ridiculous gift. When will I learn?

“On the way back Thomas was looking online and found that Currys in Reading was still open so we went straight there. There was no getting out of it. We had 15 minutes until the store closed but he had done his homework, so it was very quick.”

Thomas said he had surprised himself by winning, adding: “I was a little bit nervous as I performed a new dive.”

He completed 12 dives from the poolside and the 1m and 3m boards, including a pike off the 1m board.

He was the only competitor to be awarded nine out of 10 for a dive. Thomas qualified for the Swim England Diving National Skills Finals, which will be held in Southend in July.

Mrs Oxlade, who runs the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Playhatch with her husband Alan, said she was proud of her son.

“He practises everywhere he goes,” she said. “Even when he is putting on his shoes he will do it in the pike position.”

She thanked Chris Hirst, headteacher of Thomas’s school, for his support. The school previously paid for him to attend the national schools finals diving competition in Manchester.

Thomas said that his dream was to one day compete at the Olympics and he was looking forward to watching the diving at the Games in Paris this summer.