Two of Cippenham's brightest young prospects further enhanced their credentials on the national stage at the weekend. This was the culmination of the National Series, a competition played across three weekends that pitched the best players in the country against each other with the winners being crowned champions.

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Mia Lakhani and Sai Prasanna Kumar were both in action at Grantham College.

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Sai, two weeks short of his twelfth birthday, was playing in the Under-13 Boys' competition, a year out of his age group. And yet Sai, playing the most brilliant table tennis according to his coach Ken Phillips, was simply outstanding as he beat all six opponents, being extended to a deciding game only twice. In one match he played one shot, apparently, which went around the net from below and then rolled, rather than bounced, across the table making its return impossible.

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Mia was playing in the Under-19 Girls' competition and won five of her six matches in the round-robin, losing her final match to seventh-placed Maja Wojcicka, and being extended to deuce in the fifth twice more.

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For good measure, adding to our two local players, Plymouth-based Alyssa Nguyen, who represents Cippenham in the Girls' Premier Division of the Youth British Clubs League, won the U13 Girls' event