Guernsey’s veteran table tennis players showed their mettle at the Veterans Home Counties Tournament, held recently in Nottingham.
Competing against top players from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Jersey, and the Isle of Man, the 10-player squad delivered a strong performance, highlighted by an impressive bronze medal win for the Over-60 Ladies.
The tournament featured team events across various age groups, with each match consisting of two singles matches and one doubles match.
Guernsey’s Over-60 Ladies’ team, consisting of Kay Chivers and Juliette Yeaman, secured third place, a fine achievement given the late withdrawal of experienced veteran Dawn Morgan.
Despite the last-minute change, the duo performed exceptionally well, finishing behind only the two formidable English teams. Yeaman played a crucial role, helping Chivers defeat teams from Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. She also clinched a singles victory against Scotland’s Catherine Inverarity and, together with Chivers, won four doubles matches. Chivers also had a solid showing in singles, winning five of her ten matches.
The men’s teams faced tough competition but fought hard and delivered some notable results.
In the Over-40s Men’s division, the duo of Jamie Ferbrache and Steve Ozanne finished a respectable sixth overall. They secured a decisive 4-1 victory over Wales B, and Ozanne was in excellent form, winning four of his twelve singles matches and three of six doubles matches with Ferbrache. In a standout moment, Ozanne stunned England’s number two, Andy Wilkinson, with an 11-4 win in their first game, forcing his opponent to adjust his tactics to eventually win the match.
The Over-75s team of Keith Opie and Maurice James also faced a challenging field.
Despite a tough start, finishing sixth out of seven teams, they found consolation in a dominant 4-1 win over arch-rivals Jersey. Opie won four of his twelve singles matches and two doubles matches with James.
Guernsey’s Over-50s Men’s team, comprising of Nye Matthew, Andy Gill and Ian Le Page, finished fifth out of seven teams.
With Matthew playing in most matches, the team secured good wins over Wales and Ireland B. Matthew won five of his twelve singles matches, while Gill won three of his six.
The over-60s men’s pair of Peter Vivian and Rob Vile faced an uphill battle against tough opponents but came close to a win against the Isle of Man, losing 3-2. Vivian was a standout performer, winning both of his singles matches against Malc Lewis and Geoff Ball.
It was tough going for the over 75’s duo of Keith Opies and Maurice James finishing 6th out of 7 in the team events. After losing to England A and B, there was a better result against Ireland losing 3-2 with Opie beating David Jacobson and the pair winning the doubles with James narrowly losing out to Jacobson in two deuce games both 13-11. Wales also proved very strong although the 5-0 result could have been different as three of the games were lost in the fifth set.
The biggest disappointment was against Scotland losing 4-1 with Opie winning the only game against Alexander Hughes and James losing to Hughes 12-10 in the fifth as well as losing two deuce games to Richard Masterton, but this was followed up by and emphatic 4-1 win over Jersey.
The doubles event saw James and Opie progress through the group stage and although the England pairing containing the number one Barry Hill proved too strong, there was a strong win over the Welsh pairing of Tony Bartram and Colin Price, before losing in the quarter final to another strong England pair.
The singles event saw Opie lose out to Geoff Salter, the eventual winner, and Nick Heaps from England thereby not qualifying, while James qualified, finally losing out to the experienced player from Wales Brian Finn 3-1.