Great Britain take positives from 2026 FIP Junior Euro Padel Cup

Competing in the qualification phase of the FIP Junior Euro Padel Cup in Porto, Portugal, both teams finished second in their respective groups on their debut appearances at the event. 

Great Britain’s Boys Team

• U18 - Ben Phillips (Captain)
• U18 - Cochise Bennett
• U18 - Stan Hunt
• U18 - Liam de la Mare
• U16 - Harley Dixon
• U16 - Oliver Grantham
• U16 - Andrew Dunn
• U14 - Tyler Coles Monfillo
• U14 - Shay Hanif
• U14 - Josh Aggas 

Great Britain’s Girls Team

• U18 - Rosie Quirk (Captain)
• U18 - Aimee Connolly 
• U18 - Tullulah Butterfield 
• U16 - Chloe de la Mare  
• U16 - Heidi Ellis 
• U14 - Lucy Bertram 
• U14 - Rosie Allen 
• U14 - Elizaeth Vellacott 

Great Britain’s team was led by Team Captain and LTA National Performance Pathway Manager, Libby Fletcher. Frankie Langan, former GB player coached the boys team. The girl’s team was coached by Miguel Caramalho, Head of Padel at Smash Padel, and Lisa Philips, current GB no.4. 

The GB junior team flew out to Porto two days before the start of the competition to acclimatise and prepare for the event, which was held at Padel Athletic Club, an indoor venue in the centre of Porto. Ben Phillips and Rosie Quirk were selected to captain the teams. As experienced internationals, they were ideally placed to lead by example and serve as role models for the younger members of the squad.

Having not competed at the 2024 European Championships, Great Britain entered this year’s qualifying draw unseeded, making a favourable draw essential if either team was to have a realistic chance of reaching the Final Eight. Overall, the draw provided both GB teams with an opportunity to challenge for qualification. However, the girls faced a particularly difficult task, having been placed in a three-team group alongside Belgium, who are currently ranked fifth in Europe. 

In the boys’ qualification competition, there were two groups of four and two groups of five. In the girls’, there was one group of three and three groups of four. Each group match in the qualification stage consisted of three ties. One each for pairs in U14, U16 and U18 age categories.

The GB boys got off to a strong start, comfortably defeating Estonia, Finland and Poland. However, they narrowly missed out on a place in the Final 8 and top spot in Group D after suffering a 2–1 defeat to Denmark.

Great Britain’s girls competed in the tournament’s only three-team group, where only the group winners would advance to the Final Eight. An opening defeat to Belgium meant qualification was out of reach, but the team responded strongly by defeating the Czech Republic 3–0 on Sunday.

Day 1: Qualification

Boys: Great Britain vs Poland

Josh Aggas and Shay Hanif made their GB U14 debut and came through a hugely competitive match in 3 sets to give the team 1-0 lead.

The U16 pair of Oliver Grantham, and Harley Dixon, who both played in last year’s World Cup team, they had a more convincing win to give GB their first victory.

In the U18’s match Ben Phillips, who had sustained a fracture the week before the tournament, and debutant Cochise Bennett made it 3–0. 

Girls: Great Britain vs Belgium 

Facing Belgium who are ranked five in Europe the match would no doubt decide who qualified.

U14 players Rosie Allan and Elizabeth Vellacott gave the girls the lead winning 6-3 6-0.  

Chloe De La Mare paired up with younger player Lucy Bertram and put up a strong fight against a physical pair losing two close sets 7-5 6-4 to make the tie level going into the deciding match.

Girls captain Rosie Quirk partnered Aimee Connolly for the final match, but faced a pair who showed strength at the net and were ultimately stronger than the GB pair winning the tie 2-1 to Belgium.  

Boys: Great Britian vs Estonia  

In the second match of the day the boys played group seeds Estonia, U14 and U16 pair remained the same as the first match both winning comfortably and in the U18’s Stan Hunt and Liam De La Mare had a tough match, fighting through to victory in 3 long sets.  

Day 2: Qualification

Boys: Great Britain vs Finland  

Shay Hanif paired with Tyler Coles Monfillo, who was making his GB debut. The pair performed well under pressure and beat a strong pair in the u14 first match, giving GB 1- 0 lead. Next the formidable pairing of Harley Dixon and Ollie Grantham were far too strong in the U16, taking the match to 2-0. The U18’s of Ben and Cochise faced a strong and experienced pair from Finland, losing 2 tight sets to end the tie 2–1 for GB and setting up their last match which would ultimately be the group qualifying tie.  

Girls: Great Britain vs Czech Republic 

In a difficult match to lift themselves up after the defeat to Belgium, the girls were ruthless in their defeat of Czech Republic losing just a handful of games in the 3 matches. Rosie Allen and Elizabeth Vellacott comfortably defeated the U14 Czech pair.

Next up was Chloe De La Mare and Heidi Ellis who had a strong performance.  

Tallulah Butterfield and Rosie Quirk made the tie 3–0 in a disappointing which marked a end to the girls FIP Junior Euro Padel Cup campaign.  

Day 3: Qualification

Boys: Great Britain vs Denmark 

In what would be the deciding qualifying match in group D, U14 pair of Shay and Tyler were overpower by strong overheads from the Danish pair, losing in straight sets 6-2 6-4. 

Going into the decisive tie against Denmark, the team knew that qualification would likely depend on result of the U16 match. Harley Dixon and Oliver Grantham battled bravely throughout, but the Danish pair’s dominant overhead game proved the difference, edging a tightly contested encounter 7–5 7–6(3) and ending GB’s qualification hopes.

In the final match of the tie, Ben Philips and Coachise Bennett produced an excellent performance, overpowering the Danish U18 pair 6–1 6–2. While the victory secured a win in the dead rubber, it was not enough to prevent Great Britain from narrowly missing out on top spot in Group D and progression to the Final Eight.