Lydia shines on England duty

The 17-year-old from Hastings gave a good account of herself while representing England at the U17 Six Nations competition in Holland before winning a title at the Essex Senior Gold tournament.

At the Six Nations, Powell and Jess Hopton won their doubles match as England edged out France 5-4. She played in the number one singles match during the 7-3 loss to a very strong Denmark side.

Powell was pipped 22-24 in the third game of the number two singles during the 6-4 loss to Germany, but she won the number one singles as England beat the host nation by the same score. Powell again won the number one singles against Sweden, but this time England lost 6-4 and therefore missed out on a medal.

In the individual tournament at the same event, Powell defeated a Swedish girl in round one of the singles before losing 21-15 in the third to the number two seed. She also reached the quarter-finals of the doubles with Hopton.

Powell then clinched the women’s doubles alongside Viki Williams at the Essex tournament in Redbridge. The number one seeds took their first two matches fairly comfortably before overcoming in-form Scottish international pair Rebekka Findlay and Caitlin Pringle 21-17, 21-18 in the semi-finals. They then got the better of Reshmi Ouseph and Sandra Peaston 21-15, 27-25 to win the title without dropping a game.

Powell, knocking on the door of the national top 20, was the only player to take a game off singles winner Tanapat Pisitpong after narrowly losing the quarter-final between the pair 21-18 in the third.