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The Channel Island team produced some strong results over two days at the inaugural UK Padel County Championships.
With 20 counties competing in Men’s, Ladies’ and Mixed events it was a packed weekend at the impressive Rocket Padel in Bristol.
In the Ladies’ event, the CI were drawn in a group with Cheshire, Devon and Wiltshire.
On Saturday, they decisively beat Devon and Cheshire, leaving a Sunday morning must win tie against Wiltshire who were also unbeaten.
With the scores level at one match all, it came down to a shootout tie-break [first to ten by two clear points], where each county had to select one player from each of the parings used in the tie.
Chantelle De La Mare and Helen Polli paired up and played a steady and considered tie-break with some sensational defending to win and put the Ladies’ Team through to the semi-finals.
There they met Surrey, who were formidable opponents and once again with the scores level at 1-1, it came down to a shootout to progress to the final.
This time, the opposition were just too strong and Surrey prevailed to meet Yorkshire in the final.
Pictured: Rob West, Aaron Higgins and Bero Bobus discuss tactics before the shootout against Yorkshire.
In the Men’s event, the Channel Islands were drawn into a tough group with Cheshire, Wiltshire, Yorkshire and Suffolk.
There was some astounding padel with rallies of over a minute across many of the matches, and including a two hour match for Aaron Higgins and Olly Cull against Suffolk.
The final match between the Channel Islands and Yorkshire would decide the group, with the winner progressing to the semi final stage.
The Channel Islands second pair of Olly Cull and Rob West raced to a 1-0 lead, winning their rubber 6-1, 6-3.
The “pair one” match was tighter with Bero Bobus and Aaron Higgins eventually losing 5-7, 3-6, meaning a shootout would once again decide the winner.
However, Yorkshire proved too strong and won 10-4.
Pictured: Rob West and Chantelle De La Mare in the mixed doubles.
In the Mixed Doubles, the Channel Island team easily topped their group beating Hertfordshire and Devon without dropping a set.
In the semi-finals they faced Surrey who went through to the finals winning the tie 2-0.
Men
Bero Bobus
Olly Cull
Matt De La Mare
Aaron Higgins
Rob West
John Young
Ladies
Chantelle De La Mare
Chloe De La Mare
Emma Devenport
Katie Inder
Helen Polli
Sara Woolland
Mixed
Chantelle De La Mare
Choe De La Mare
Sara Woolland
Matt De Le Mare
Aaron Higgins
Rob West
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