The two Cippenham teams both enjoyed a successful weekend when the Youth British Clubs League season concluded at Derby Arena over the weekend.

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The girls’ team, playing in the prestigious Premier Division finished in the same third place they occupied at the start of the weekend. Their tally was two wins, two draws and a solitary loss from five matches against the most powerful sides in the country. Ironically, the defeat came at the hands of the team immediately below them, while the two drawn matches were against the top two sides.

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Cippenham were slow to start as their single defeat of the weekend came in the very first match, beaten by the local side Draycott. For Cippenham, Plymouth-based Alyssa Nguyen made a cracking start defeating both Mabel Shute and Eva Eccles. However, Rachael Iles lost the opener to Eccles in the deciding game while Mia Lakhani went even closer but just lost out 13-11 in the decider against Shute. Putting that disappointment aside, Cippenham then trounced bottom side Greenhouse, thrashing the London-based team 6-0 with the loss of only two games.

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Saturday concluded with the first of the drawn games. Sophie Barcsai won twice for London Academy but al all-round team effort from the Cippenham girls saw each win once to clinch a point 3-3. Rachael and Alyssa both beat Maliha Baig, ranked five in England.

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It got even tougher on Sunday morning as the opponents were champions Grantham College. Hannah Silcock, the rising star from Jersey who played for Cippenham in her younger years, could not be stopped but a terrific win for Rachael over England number two Ella Pashley and the other two Cippenham girls both defeating Hannah Saunders saw Cippenham pick up another valuable point in a 3-3 draw. The weekend concluded with a 6-0 demolition of Birmingham Academy.

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The Cippenham boys’ team were operating in the lower reaches but excelled in winning Division 5. Even though one match was lost, Cippenham players won each of the five player of the match awards, Louis Alexander in the first two and Sai Prasanna Kumar in the following three matches.

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Louis got Cippenham off to a great start against Wood Green in the opening match. He won his two matches and then one each from the Prasanna Kumar brothers, Sai and Bharath, were enough to secure a 4-2 victory. Louis was again to the fore in the second match, his brace with one more added by Sai  being enough to grab a point with a 3-3 draw against eBatt 4.

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Cippenham finished the first day with another welcome win, this time 5-1 over Grantham Academy 5. Only Bharath was defeated in this match and that was in the opening set.

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The upset of the weekend came on Sunday morning, a 4-2 defeat against Ipswich-based Britannia. Sai won his two matches while Louis and Bharath both lost one encounter narrowly in the fifth game.

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That defeat put Cippenham two points behind Crosby High B who they had to play in the last match of the season with only a win being good enough for Cippenham. Louis was off-key during this match and lost both his encounters and so it was left to the younger Prasanna Kumar brothers to step up and win the match for Cippenham. Both won their opening encounters but when Louis lost the fourth set the score stood 2-2 with everything to play for. Sai, days after his twelfth birthday, then thrashed Jayden Chau, who had earlier bean Louis, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7. The scene was set for Bharath who needed to beat Dylan Innes-Wilkin for Cippenham to triumph as champions of the division. The score stood one game all but then Bharath edged in front by winning the third game 13-11, lost the next 10-12 and it was all set for a nail-biting finale. To his credit, Bharath kept his nerve and won the fifth end 11-9 to secure the title for Cippenham.