Cippenham’s two teams both made excellent starts to the new season as the Youth British Clubs League got underway in Derby over the weekend.

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The girls’ team, playing in the flagship Premier Division, and consequently up against the very best teams in the British Isles, won three and drew one of their five matches and sit comfortably in third place in the division, equal on points gained but narrowly missing out on second spot by a difference of one set only. The boys’ team won four times and drew once and sit proudly at the top of Division 5 and are favourites to take the division title when the league resumes in the new year.

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With Anna Piercey from last year’s team now overage, Cippenham drafted in Plymouth-based Alyssa Nguyen to assist locals Rachael Iles and Mia Lakhani in their quest to improve upon last season’s fourth-placed finish. The first stage of that mission has been accomplished with Cippenham three points better off than the fourth-placed team at the half-way point of the season and only two points behind the league leaders. Rachael was the most successful of the Cippenham players, winning eight of her ten matches, but gained the Player of the Match Award just once compared with Alyssa’s three such honours despite her having won one fewer match than Rachael. Mia could not quite repeat last season’s impressive record but nevertheless contributed three wins to the team effort.

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The weekend started well with a 5-1 dismissal of Draycott, a club local to the venue in Derby. Mia lost the opening set but after that it was plain sailing with both Rachael and Alyssa picking up two wins each. The same result was achieved against London Academy who ultimately finished just ahead of Cippenham in second place. The fact that the capital’s side included Sienna Jetha and Maliha Baig, third and fourth ranked in the England junior girls list, meant little as they were pushed aside by fantastic performances from Rachael and Alyssa, ranked sixth and eighth. However, the late Saturday match brought Cippenham back down to earth, humbled 6-0 by a strong Grantham College team spearheaded by the number one players from both Jersey and Wales.

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Normal business resumed on Sunday morning with a 5-1 demolition of Greenhouse, another powerhouse side from London, with further braces from both Rachael and Alyssa. There was a slight sense of disappointment as the weekend concluded with a dropped point from a 3-3 draw with fifth-placed Birmingham Academy. Rachael kept up her winning ways with two easy 3-0 victories but Mia lost 11-9 in the fifth and deciding game to Charlotte Wong and the possibility of occupying second place in the table disappeared with that result.

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The boys’ team was made up of players from last season’s second team and all performed exceptionally to put together dominant team displays. Sai Prasanna Kumar, the current England under-11 champion, led the way with eight wins from nine matches, Louis Alexander, playing in the more challenging number one position in the team, won seven out of ten and Sai’s older brother Bharath registered six out of nine.

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EBatt 4 could only field two players for the opening match and succumbed 5-1. Sai fell to what proved to be his only defeat of the weekend in the match as Louis registered a Player of the Match performance. That was his only such accolade as Sai won the award three teams and Bharath gained the other. In the second match, Cippenham played out a 3-3 draw with Crosby High B team. Louis was beaten twice in this match, including a nail-biting 12-10 in the fifth to Liam Chau while Sai exerted his class with two three-straight wins. Louis, though, came back strongly to win both of his matches, as did Sai, in the day’s final match, a 5-1 victory over Wood Green.

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Grantham Academy 5 were put to the sword 6-0 on Sunday morning before a very impressive weekend was completed with a 4-2 victory over Britannia. Sai  kept up his unbeaten run of eight matches and was well backed up by Louis and Bharath.