Hampshire & IOW 14U Boys team were in Group G for the qualifying event which was held at Taunton Tennis Centre this year. The other counties were Avon, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall and Wiltshire.
The squad this year was: Henry Bowden, Cameron Clarke, Oukek Dinapala, Ouyoung Dinapala, Alex Ellison, Ryan Golesworthy
Team Captains: Mike Booth and Karim Aouichaoui
Our first match was against Cornwall, the singles order had to be picked on ranking order so Ryan was at 1, Outek at 2, Henry at 3 and Cameron at 4. This order stayed the same for the whole weekend. The matches were competitive but we came away with 4 straight set wins, Henry paired up with Ryan at number 1 doubles pair and Ouyoung came in with Cameron at 2, both pairs won so gave us a 6-0 win.
Next up was Avon, singles order was the same and once again we recorded 4 straight set wins to go 4-0 up. Ryan and Henry paired up again at 1 for the doubles and won and at 2 Ouyoung played with Alex who also recorded a win for another 6-0 win.
Next match was against Buckinghamshire who, on paper, were our strongest rivals. Once again the singles players raced ahead to a 4-0 lead with straight set wins, Outek and Cameron played at 1 and had a win and Ouyoung and Alex played at 2 but lost in straight sets to give us a 5-1 win.
Last match was against Wiltshire and once again the singles order hit form and went 4-0 up. Alex and Ouyoung were at number 2 in the doubles and Outek and Cameron were at 1 to give us a 6-0 win.
Overall a very good weekend’s tennis, a well-deserved and very convincing win that earns us the right to go to the Finals in Nottingham over the weekend of 13th – 15th May 2016.
Mike Booth, Team Captain