Junior British League 1st Weekend

Created by Graham Trimming

an accredited ETTA EXCELLENCE PremierClub

Tough debut weekend

It was a young, fresh and inexperienced team that took to the tables in the first weekend of matches in the Junior British League at Tipton Sports Academy. All four players were making their debuts in the event and, despite being placed in the lowest division, found the going very tough. It was not for the want of trying and the boys will have gained from the experience and hope to do better in the second half later in the season.

Cippenham lost both their first two matches 6-0. Brunswick Ashford were the first opponents and were followed by eventual league leaders St. Marys Hull. The final Saturday match appeared to be heading the same way until Joseph Underwood stopped the whitewash with an emphatic 3-0 win over Karan Thaker.

Another 6-0 defeat followed on Sunday morning at the hands of London Academy 2 although it took London’s number one Zachary Bull four long deuce games to get the better of Joseph and Alex Nagle.

The Cippenham fighting spirit, though, was undaunted and brought off a great 3-3 draw with third-placed De Vere NETTS in the afternoon. When Alex lost 11-6 in the fifth to Robert Shrimpton and then Joseph fell 3-0 to James Denyer it seemed as if the team would leave the weekend pointless. That’s when Harrison Simmons stepped up to beat, firstly, Patrick Gilbert 3-0 and then Shrimpton for his brace. Harrison came back from 2-1 down in games to beat Shrimpton 11-8 in the fifth and then Joseph brought home the team’s only point by getting the better of Gilbert by the narrow scoreline of 13-11, 9-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9.

Link to Junior British League page