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It was a bitter-sweet victory for the new Island women’s singles champion – Cassie Stewart Le Gallais had to beat her own mother, Jean Stewart, to get her hands on the trophy.
The eventual winner of the event, played at the home of Carrefour Pétanque Club in Grouville, struggled to get through the qualifying round, just scraping through into the final group of eight in 8th place. In the quarter final she was confronted by Wendy Ritzema who had won all her five matches in the qualifiers, but Cassie turned the tables and won 13-4. She then went on to win her semi-final 13-6 against Lorna Limbrick – and then faced the daunting task of taking on her mother, but it was the daughter who triumphed 13-7.
The trophy was a new one, awarded for the first time by Jersey Petanque Association chairman Dave Ibitson because of the decision to split the Island singles into Men’s and Women’s sections. Also presented for the first time was a silver salver in a Plate competition for the best qualifying round losers. It went to Ross Payne who beat Alan Lahiffe 13-10 in the final. The thinking behind the new trophy was to encourage more people to take part in the event. And it paid off with a record 35 players involved, 24 men and 11 women.
The new all-Island men’s champion is Andy Limbrick – and his was also a new name on the trophy. “It means a lot to me because I now have my name on all three of the JPA majors, the Singles, the Doubles and the Triples,” he said afterwards. In this year’s final he beat Jake Romeril 13-6. Earlier Andy had beaten Brian Harris 13-3 in their semi-final while Jake Romeril edged out Matt Pinel 13-10 in the other, but Brian had the consolation of winning the bronze medal in the third place play-off, beating Matt 13-11.
Lead image: Jean Stewart, Cassie Stewart Le Gallais and Nicky Maindonald
