The leading Guernsey table tennis players showed their quality with heavy success over their Jersey counterparts at the GTTA centre, with 15 of the coveted 20 Channel Island Championship crowns going the way of the Sarnians.
No fewer than five Guernsey players picked up multiple titles.
Most significantly were the victories for Guernsey players in the blue riband Men’s and Women’s Singles events.
Garry Dodd continues to show his dominance of this event and his 5th consecutive CI title and 12th total leaves him just a single title short of the record that has been held by Bert Brenton nearly 80 years ago.
Dodd started his final against the youthful Leon Pierre in emphatic fashion and blazed through the opening 2 sets with matching 11-4 scores.
To his great credit, the Caesarean did not fold under the pressure, and he increased his level well, taking the 3rd set 11-7 with some strong early attacking strokes. He continued to display strong form and led the majority of the 4th set until Dodd whipped an impressive backhand top-spin at the end of a long rally to reduce arrears to 5-7. Pierre did however remain in the ascendancy and closed in on the set at 9-8. Fortune favoured Dodd at this stage with a ball that clipped the edge and a few strong serves and forehand top-spin third ball saw him move into an important 3-1 lead. The 5th set was an almost mirror image of the prior set, with Pierre leading throughout, until parity was restored at 7-7. A long rally at 9-8 won by Pierre kept him in it, however Dodd played consecutive strong points to conclude an 11-4, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 triumph.
Kay Chivers on the other hand enjoyed an identical 5-set success in the Women’s Singles, with Freya Allaway dispatched. The success was her 7th CI title in this category and like Dodd, she set the tone from the start, courtesy of taking the opening 2 sets for the loss of just 13 points. The third set was also taken 11-6 to put the title in sight. Allaway battled strongly and saved a match point at 10-9 in the 4th set, taking it at her first opportunity 2 points later. Chivers was however not to be stopped and she cruised through the 5th set to complete an 11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 10-12, 11-5 victory.
Dodd and Chivers both tasted further success in other events they competed in on the night. For Dodd, he combined with Alex Robinson in the Men’s Doubles where they defeated the spirited efforts of Pierre and Junior Theo De Poerck over 5 sets, whilst Chivers was a clinical straight sets winner over Martin Tupper to lift the Over 60’s Open Singles title. Chivers added a third title of the night when she clinically put away Anne Cecille-Clare in straight sets in the Women’s Veterans Singles.
The final blue riband trophy to go the way of the hosts was one of the closest of the night in the Mixed Doubles between Robinson and Marli Barker and Pierre and Allaway. The Jersey duo always led in a match which saw sets swing back and forth until 3-3. The important 7th set saw Robinson and Barker enjoy success from their more difficult side for the first time in the match, surging into an important 5-3 lead at the change of ends. A timeout was taken by the Guernsey duo when the score was levelled at 5-5 and this paid huge dividends as it saw them motor into a decisive 10-6 lead, with the title eventually sealed 11-7 when a service return from Barker narrowly struck the edge of the table.
The only core title not to go the way of the Sarnians was the Women’s Doubles, which saw Allaway and Ella Devlin combine excellently to see off Chivers and Barker in 5 sets.
Robinson’s evening had started with another encounter that went the full 7-set distance, in an epic clash with Alfie Sutherland in the Restricted Singles. He was looking in good form when he took the opening 2 sets and led 9-7 in the 3rd, however Sutherland snuck the 3rd 11-9 after a rare fault serve from Robinson. A comfortable 11-5 set win in the 4th opened a commanding 3-1 lead, however once more Sutherland showed good battling quality and he refused to go down, comfortably taking the next 2 sets for the loss of just 9 points. Despite losing the opening point of the decider, Robinson started a super run which saw him change ends with a 5-2 lead. Despite more resistance from the Jersey man, Robinson had too much firepower and took it 11-6 at the first time of asking.
In an evening dominated by Guernsey Veterans, Phil Ogier was the leading player as he picked up 2 titles. He was a dominant straight sets winner of the Over 50’s Open Singles over Tupper, whilst in the Veterans Open Doubles alongside Nye Matthew, they dispatched Tupper and Tony Wood in straight sets.
Terry Trustum rounded off Guernsey success in the Veterans events with a strong 4-0 win over former JTTA President Paul Routier in the Over 70’s Open Singles.
The sole Veterans title to elude Guernsey’s hands was the Over 40’s Open Singles, with the strong green trophy player Mariusz Cieminski having too much in the locker for Ogier and winning in straight sets.
The leading Sarnian junior players also tasted excellent success, winning 5 of the 8 events contested. The biggest winner of the night was Luke Evans, who picked up titles in 2 events. He was a comfortable straight sets winner over Evan Ness in the Under 13 Open Singles, whilst he played superbly to dispatch Oskar Karwowski 4-1 in the Under 15 Boys Singles. He was unfortunate not to come away with a further title as he narrowly slipped to a 7-set defeat to Karwowski in a hard-fought Under 18 Men’s final, whilst he also lost out to the impressive John Le Fondre in 5-sets in the Under 21 Open Singles. Keira Eldridge was in strong form in the Under 15 Girls, where she overcame Ella Devlin in straight sets and she will rue her Under 18 Women’s Final with Ruby Devlin, where she fell in 6 sets, despite having led 2-0.
Micah Cohen and Cameron Powell played excellently in the Under 18 Open Doubles, shocking Callum Allaway and De Poerk with a 6-set win, whilst in the youngest age category, Perran Lomax showed superb composure during a convincing straight sets win over Hamish McCullough in the Under 11 Open Singles.