There is all to play for when the Youth British Clubs League returns at the weekend, with new champions guaranteed in the Boys’ Open and challengers circling a weakened title-winning squad in the Girls’ event.

Grantham academy are below-strength because their No 1 player, Ella Pashley, is in the England squad for the European Championships starting on Monday.

Cindy Xiao has been called up to replace Pashley and joins a squad which also includes Eva Eccles (No 7, pictured above), Hannah Saunders (No 11) and Maja Wojcicka (No 23).

While Grantham are perfectly capable of challenging, London Academy and Cippenham in particular will feel they can steal a march on the champions ahead of the second weekend.

London have the third and fourth-rated players, in the shape of England’s Sienna Jetha and Hungary’s Sophie Barcsai, while their third player, Ching Sum Pang, has been dummy-rated at four also.

Alyssa Nguyen, Pashley’s squad-mate at the London 2026 World Championships in May and the No 6-rated player, leads the Cippenham squad, alongside No 9 Mia Lakhani and backed up by Charlotte LokChing Wong.

Draycott Girls have No 10 Catherine Lv and No 12 Millie Noble, along with Evie Knaapen, while Greenhouse have three players rated between 14 and 18. Ormeau are the final team in the division, led by No 13 Grace Looney.

An extra girls’ division has been added due to demand – there are six in total, one more than last season and two more than 2024/25.

The Boys’ Open is wide open as last year’s champions Fusion have dropped out of the division thanks to a ‘changing of the guard’ which sees Larry Trumpauskas and Francesco Bonato not eligible.

A strong eBaTT squad looks to be the team to beat, with No 1 Max Radiven and No 4 Leon Vlasov having already played in the SBCL Premier Division this season.

Radiven has picked up a shoulder injury at the WTT Youth Contender Cairo, but even if he does not play in Derby, eBaTT can still call on Kacper Piwowar (No 5), Oscar Nikolli (No 7) and Olivier Chu (No 8).

Grantham Academy, champions in 2025, call on No 2 Abraham Sellado, back up by Jake Davidson (No 11) and Wales’ Harry Street.

Beyond those two, there is not a lot to choose between the other teams on paper. Ormeau have in-form Zac Greenhough, the Cleveland Junior 4* champion, as well as Ireland’s GB pathway player Peadar Sheridan and Christopher Allsop. Woodford Wells have No 10-rated Sinan Surensoy, along with Adam Alibhai (No 19) and Aarav Parihar (No 23), while

Kingfisher’s squad of Prayrit Ahluwalia, Rishaan Sawant and Angad Saggu are all rated in the 20s, while Joola Plymouth have Nguyen twins Leo (No 17) and Hugo (No 34), with team-mate Rex Wong rated at No 18.

Derby Arena is once again the primary location and there will be a total of 15 divisions in action – the bottom two boys’ open divisions are taking place at Draycott – and more than 350 players representing their teams.

Check all the squad lists and fixtures in the programme below, and see the latest results and tables, plus player stats on TT Leagues during the weekend.

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