The Oxford and District Junior Championships were held at Kidlington Forum on Sunday and lasted well into the evening. A new generation of youngsters stole the show, with two 14 year-olds, Lewis Sumner and Chloe Yau, and two 13 year-olds, Jonah Stott and Simon Price, in exuberant form. Chloe (Kidlington Forum) won the girls’ event, with Charlotte Rowan 2nd and Chloe Whitehouse 3rd, while in the Boys’ Under 18s, the two top ranked players, Tom Marrs and Anthony Howgego, both departed in the semi-finals, leaving Jonah Stott (Kidlington Forum) to recapture the trophy he won last year, by hitting through the defences of dogged retriever Jack Shardlow in the Final.

The Boys’ Under 16 event was won by Lewis Sumner (Bicester), who eliminated Jonah in the semi-finals and went on to defeat Simon Price (KF) in the Final. Earlier on his 3-2 victory over Anthony Howgego in the Under 18 groups had been one of the most spectacular matches of the day. Lewis is only in his first season and already showing signs of a remarkable talent. The other beaten semi-finalist in the U16s was Cameron Patterson.

Further silverware came Jonah’s way in the Under 14 singles, prevailing decisively (3-0) over Simon in the Final. Jamie Furlong and Luke Jobling went out in the semis. A new name came into the record books in the Under 12 event, won by Kyreece Martei. His beaten opponent, Ryan Hambridge, was the winner of the graded singles.

Jonah and Simon were simply unstoppable in the graded doubles, defying all the best efforts of the handicappers. Tom Marrs and Jack Shardlow battled hard to reach the final, defeating Anthony Howgego and Cameron Patterson at deuce in the 5th, but then, like all others, got blown away by the two 13 year-olds, who gave a wonderful display of energy and movement, not to mention stamina at the end of a long day: above all they have developed a fine awareness of how to combine a right-handed player with a lefty.

John Birkin