Boys' team maintain third place

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The Cippenham boys’ team in the Junior British League won three of their five matches during the final weekend of matches in Derby. The six points haul was one better that the five points gained during the first weekend in November and maintained their third place in Division 4B.

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Shae Thakker and Mihnea Dascalu both scored six wins over the weekend, while Pranav Gudipati did well to win half of his six matches and William Fricker weighed in with one.

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Cippenham got off to a good start on Saturday morning with a 4-2 win over fourth-placed Fusion 3. Shae and Mihnea won two each while the south London side were only able to respond by winning their two encounters with William.

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Pranav Gudipati replaced Mihnea Dascal for the afternoon match with leaders Halton 2. The Widnes team eventually won 5-1 with only Pranav scoring for Cippenham in the final set against Tom Watson. However, the scoreline belies the closeness of the match in which Cippenham players three times lost by very narrow margins in the deciding game and no set finished 3-0.

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Cippenham went back to winning days for the final match on Saturday as BATTS B, who fell from second to fifth in the table over the course of the weekend, succumbed 4-2. Shae was on top form winning both his matches 3-0 while Pranav held on to win 11-9 in the fifth game against Charlie Read and Mihnea secured both points by bearing the same player 3-1 in the final set.

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Colebridge B were no match for Cippenham on Sunday morning, obtaining only a consolation victory late in the final set when Pranav was beaten 12-10 in the fifth by Benjamin Rycroft-Stanley. Prior to this, Shae dropped just one game in his brace of wins, Mihnea brushed aside Jake Crawshaw 3-0 and then won in the fifth against Henry Belcher  and Pranav did better by winning 3-1 against the same opponent.

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A win against Mid Ulster in the final match on Sunday afternoon would have secured Cippenham second place in the division. However, it was not to be and their Irish opponents ran out 4-2 winners. Mihnea and William both beat the opposing number three player, Daniel Urwin, while Shae lost in four games against both Joe Sheard and Tom Colvin.

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