Cippenham's junior teams shine as boys dominate Division 5 and girls chase leaders

Rachael Iles

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Cippenham’s boys’ and girls’ teams got off to a flying start in the Youth British Clubs League earlier this month as both teams turned in some outstanding performances on the opening weekend of the season in Derby.

The girls team shone in their Premier Division matches, playing against the very best youth sides across the country. They won three of their five matches, drew one and lost just once across the two days, leaving them comfortably in third place and able to attack the top two when the season resumes.

Remarkably, they sit level on points with the team in second place, missing out on a top two finish by the narrowest of margins - a single set!

With former team member Anna Piercey now overage, Cippenham bolstered their line up by bringing in Plymouth-based Alyssa Nguyen to join local talents Rachael Iles and Mia Lakhani.

Their goal is to improve on last season’s fourth placed finish, and they look well set to achieve that at the halfway stage. They’ll return to the tables just two points behind the league leaders and three points clear of fourth, so will be looking to hold their nerve when the second weekend is played.

Iles was in superb form, winning eight of her 10 matches. But it was Nguyen who caught the eye of the officials, claiming three Player of the Match awards to Iles’ one, despite winning one fewer game.

Lakhani didn’t quite hit the heights of last season but still made a valuable contribution with three important wins.

The weekend got off to the perfect start with a 5–1 victory over local side Draycott, Iles and Nguyen both bagging two wins apiece. They repeated the scoreline against London Academy, a huge scalp given the London side fielded top-ranked England juniors Sienna Jetha and Maliha Baig. Cippenham’s own rising stars — Iles (ranked sixth) and Nguyen (eighth) — were simply unstoppable.

Reality bit in the final match on Saturday, however, as Grantham College proved too strong, handing Cippenham a 6–0 defeat.

But the team bounced back in style on Sunday morning, sweeping past Greenhouse 5–1 thanks to more dominant displays from Iles and Nguyen. The weekend wrapped up with a hard-fought 3–3 draw against Birmingham Academy. Iles again impressed with two straight-set wins, but Lakhani’s narrow 11–9 defeat in the deciding fifth game against Charlotte Wong cost the team second place — at least for now.

Cippenham Boys team dominated most of the teams they came up against in Division 5 and proudly sit top of the table. They won four of their matches and drew the other one to sit top of the table and they will be favourites to clinch the title when the season resumes in the new year. Made up of last season’s second-team players, the young team showed a maturity beyond their years with Sai Prasanna Kumar, the reigning England under-11 champion, leading the way with eight wins from his nine matches.

Playing in the tough number one slot, Louis Alexander battled hard for seven wins from 10, while Sai’s older brother Bharath added six wins from nine.

The boys kicked off with a 5–1 win over EBatt 4, who were a player short. Sai suffered his only defeat of the weekend there, while Alexander’s strong showing earned him his sole Player of the Match award. Sai picked up three such honours over the weekend, with Bharath claiming the other.

Next up was a tight 3–3 draw against Crosby High B, where Alexander lost twice — one heartbreakingly 12–10 in the fifth to Liam Chau — but Sai again shone with two straight-set wins. The team closed out Saturday with a commanding 5–1 victory over Wood Green, Alexander and Sai both winning twice.

Sunday brought more of the same: a 6–0 sweep of Grantham Academy 5 followed by a confident 4–2 win over Britannia. Sai finished the weekend unbeaten in his last eight matches, backed superbly by his brother and Alexander.

With both Cippenham squads flying high — the girls battling among the elite in the Premier Division and the boys dominating their league — the club’s young players have set themselves up perfectly for a thrilling second half of the season when the league resumes in the new year.