London Academy boys were in scintillating form as they remained unbeaten at the first weekend of the Junior British League at Derby Arena.
Shayan Siraj spearheaded the team, winning all nine of his matches as one of only two Premier Division players to notch 100% records, and he was ably supported by Daniel Simonson and Borgar Haug.
Siraj was pushed all the way in the first match against XLNT Draycott by Naphat Boonyaprapa before triumphing 3-2 (11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 12-10, 16-14) to complete an opening 6-0 victory, and he later also needed five to beat Ethan Walsh as Batts were also seen off 6-0.
London Academy also registered 5-1 victories against Fusion and Harefield Academy, ahead of their final match of the weekend against Cliffedale Chandlers Grantham College.
Their opponents were also unbeaten and also had a 100% man in the shape of Matt Leete, but Cliffedale were hampered by only being able to field two players in that final clash. In the event, Leete completed a perfect 10 out of 10 by beating Haug and Simonson, but Siraj and Simonson both defeated Nathan Butler, and the two forfeits gave London a 4-2 win.
Cliffedale and Harefield were both left with four victories from five and meet each other in round seven, in Derby on January 21. But both will be relying on Ormesby – whose first and second-string sides both play London Academy – to do them a favour.
In the girls’ Premier Division, the key match was in round two, when Burton Uxbridge I came from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 against Irish Girls. It was the only dropped point from either as they lead the way after five fixtures.
Ellenborough Girls won their first four matches before losing to Irish, and they will face Burton Uxbridge I in the seventh and final round in what could still prove to be a pivotal clash. Jasmin Wong was in good form for Ellenborough, with six wins from six.
There were 100% team records in the lower divisions for Dublin A (Boys’ Division 2A), London Academy (Girls’ Division 1) and Swerve (Girls’ Division 2).
Unbeaten teams were: Middlesbrough College and Pompey (Boys’ Division 1), Halton and Market Rasen (Boys’ Division 2B), Fusion II (Boys’ Division 3A), Wensum (Boys’ Division 3B), Halifax B and TableTennisDaily (Boys’ Division 4B) and Bishop Auckland Girls (Girls’ Division 3).
Of players who played at least eight matches, individual 100% records were boasted by Alec Ward (Middlesbrough College), Alex Gillen (Dublin A), Jamie Liu (Kingfisher), Dylan Curry (Market Rasen), Sam Hume (Britannia), Zak Cantor (Halifax B) and Louis Price (TableTennisDaily) in the boys’ divisions and Kornelia Jonsson (London Academy), Patricia Ianau (London Academy), Holly Williams (Swerve) and Faye Leggett (Swerve) in the girls.
Click here to see pictures from the event, by Chris Rayner.