Leicestershire trio of Tilly Dale, Owen King and Grace Sherwin grabbed seven medals between them. Tilly and Owen grabbed two each. Tilly winning a bronze in the mixed with Albie Marriott of Oxford and a gold with Grace in the doubles. Owen winning a gold in the mixed with Grace and a silver in the doubles with Tom Bonser of Notts.
Grace went one better to win three medals. The two golds with Owen and Tilly along with a bonze in the singles.
Well done Leicestershire!
Report by Mitch Dale
Team Leicestershire’s Sophie Watson had a very busy and successful February, travelling the length of the country competing in the north and south of the UK and experiencing equal success in both!
First up was the U17 Silver at Teeside on their way to visit friends where Sophie teamed up with Lincolnshire’s Megan Diggle to win a gold medal in the WD before heading off to the U19 National Championships on 9/10th Feb – a great experience for her.
She then headed off to Bournemouth for a few days with Sophie Hillman where they teamed up in WD to play the half term Hampshire U17 Silver on 13th Feb. After winning their group and seeing off a tough pair in the final, the girls brought home gold again for a great end to half term for Sophie!
Congratulations to the winners and runners of the Primary Challenge 2018 which took place at Babington Comunity College on 7th February!
Saturday 17th February saw several Team Leicestershire juniors attend the penultimate U17 Gold event of the season in order to pit their wits and rackets against the best players in the UK at this age group.
Making a great start in the mixed, Izzy Pike & Harry Clare reached the quarter-final stage for the first time where they found Warwickshire pair Milly Evans & Nathan Moore too strong on this occasion. This feat was equalled by Jess Rodgers in the GS where she won her box but was unable to quite overcome Nottinghamshire’s Megan Brierley, battling through a tough 3 setter but losing out in the 3rd.
Having also won her group in GS, Jess Allen then pulled out a stunning win in her quarter-final, beating Surrey’s Charlotte Atkins in straight sets to 12 & 17, thereby earning herself a place in Sunday’s finals day. Facing #1 seed Sophie Hillman in her semi-final, Jess steamrolled her way into the final with another superb win 21-13 21-11 to face Megan Brierley who was no match for Jess on dominant form, earning herself the gold medal with a 21-19 21-14 victory!
The annual U16 County Championships were held at Babington Community College on Sunday 28th January where the winners and runners up were:-
BS Winner – Luke Hoult
BS R/Up – Tom Paterson-Watts
GS Winner – Jess Allen
GS R/Up – Tamsin Betts
BD Winner – Luke Hoult and Rowan Clark
BD R/Up – Owen King and Louie Stevenson
GD Winner – Jess Allen and Tamsin Betts
GD R/Up – Sophie Watson and Carly Stevenson
XD Winner – Luke Hoult and Grace Sherwin
XD R/Up – Tom Paterson-Watts and Tamsin Betts
Well done to all the players and special congratulations go to Jess Allen winning the singles and doubles and to Luke Hoult for a clean sweep in all 3 events!
Congratulations to Team Leics U16 players Jess Allen & Tamsin Betts who won the gold medal in the doubles at the recent Hertfordshire U17 Silver tournament!
On Sunday 4th February the U18’s hosted Staffordshire at home in Babington, hoping to keep their unblemished Shires League record for this season….
The Team
Martin Beynon, Harry Clare, Tom Cowperthwaite, Luke Hoult
Eve Dale, Ella Haines, Hritika Modi, Izzy Pike
Getting off to the best kind of start, the mixed pairs of Martin & Eve, Harry & Ella, Tom & Hritika and Izzy & newbie Luke cleaned up the mixed doubles in short order and without dropping a set. Moving onto the singles, the team consolidated their position by winning 3 out of 4 singles – both boys and girls.
By now in a 10-2 lead and with the match win almost a formality, the team went all out to try to win as many level double games as possible in order to strengthen their overall place on the U18 League table. All 4 pairs – Tom & Harry, Martin & Luke, Eve & Hritika and Ella & Izzy – reeled off the final 8 games in a row for a final scoreline of:-
Leicestershire 18 Staffordshire 2
Well done to all the players!
