Garry Dodd’s dominance of local table tennis continued during Finals Night of the La Fratanelle Home Insurance sponsored Island Championships on Wednesday evening, as he picked up a hat-trick of titles across the blue riband events.
This made it three consecutive years of him having clinched the Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles Island crowns and the Men’s Singles success brought him 1 closer to the all-time record holder, Bert Brenton.
This title was Dodd’s impressive 13th, leaving him just 3 shy of the enormous tally held by Brenton, who dominated during the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Dodd’s opponent in the final was second seed Lawrence Stacey, who has impressed domestically throughout the season, resulting in the highest Division 1 averages in the Doric Insurance sponsored Senior Leagues as well as a number of tournament victories. Dodd is however a class above and his blistering start saw a 2-0 advantage opened for the loss of just 6 points. Stacey started to settle in the third and was holding firm until 6-6 before Dodd moved through the gears to take it 11-7. With the resistance waning, Dodd ultimately cruised through the final set to cap a solid performance.
Doubles
The same could not be said in the Men’s Doubles encounter however, as alongside Joshua Butler, the then 4-time champions were embroiled in an excellent clash with Lawrence and twin Joshua. With honours shared across the opening 2 sets, games 3 and 4 were key to the outcome.
The Stacey twins led the third 10-7, but were crucially unable to close it out, with the defending champions roaring back to take it 13-11. The 4th set was equally tight but this time it saw Dodd and Butler with a few set points at 10-8. These were spurned, as were further set points at 12-11 and 13-12 and a strong forehand topspin cross court off the third ball from Lawrence restored parity.
In the end Dodd and Butler raised their levels for the remainder of the match and this enabled them to close it out 4-2, however this was certainly one of the highest quality doubles matches seen at the GTTA centre over the past few years.
Last up for Dodd was a Mixed Doubles final alongside Ravenscroft Panthers player Marli Barker. Their opposition was brother and sister combo Matthew and Charlotte Casey, with Matthew having been a last-minute replacement for Sunday’s Mixed Doubles action due to illness for Paul Hainsworth.
Dodd proved to be a key difference maker and despite the Casey siblings fighting through the 4th set to keep their hopes alive, Dodd and Barker closed it out 11-7 to conclude the 5-set win.
Women’s
On the Women’s side, the hugely decorated Kay Chivers was the big winner, with three titles of her own.
Her 18th Women’s Singles title puts her just 2 behind her long-time rival Dawn Morgan and in this clash, she was too consistent for GTTA Development Officer Becks O’Keefe and won in straight sets. She had earlier defeated O’Keefe by an identical score in the Ladies Veterans Singles final.
Her last title of the night came alongside Barker in the Women’s Doubles. Chivers has now incredibly won this title a staggering 29 times and this was the second title alongside Barker, after they last won in 2022.
Their opposition in the final was Casey and Paula Le Ber and, in the end, a comfortable 4-0 win was obtained.
Le Ber and Casey did have their moments and their failure to win the third set, despite leading 9-4 was extremely costly, eventually going down 11-9.
A trio of titles
There were 2 other players who enjoyed a trio of titles on the night, and this was Lions table tennis club members Phil Ogier and Luke Evans.
Ogier has enjoyed an unblemished record in both the Over 40’s Open Singles and Over 50’s Open Singles since entering each of these categories.
The 7-time former Men’s Singles Champion made it a 12th consecutive Over 40’s Open Singles title number following a convincing straight sets win over Jez Powell in the final round of the evening. He had earlier won his second consecutive Over 50’s Open Singles crown, battling past Nye Matthew, also in straight sets. This was however a much tougher test as Matthew had led the opener 9-3 before Ogier fought back to pinch it 13-11.
Mathew kept up his strong play and led the 2nd set 9-8, but once more Ogier held firm and took it 11-9. From here Ogier was able to wrap up the final 2 sets comfortably.
Ogier’s final title was in the Veteran’s Open Doubles alongside Powell. Their impressive 100% winning record in this event, which had seen them win the title 10 times consecutively had been broken last year, after a sensational performance from Jamie Ferbrache and Andy Gill saw them as 5 set winners.
This year saw a repeat clash, however on this occasion Ogier and Powell were back to near their best, winning in 5 sets and earning their 11th title together in this event.
Youth
For 12-year-old Evans, this has been an extremely successful championships as it saw him competing in 4 finals, having earned some excellent wins in reaching them.
He came remarkably close to an unblemished evening, but alongside Barnaby Groves fell to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Oskar Cleal and Cameron Powell in the Under 18 Open Doubles.
In singles however he was perfect, and this included one of the contenders for match of the night. This came in round 4 of the night and saw him up against Powell in the Under 15 Boys.
He looked in control of the affair when opening a 3-0 lead, however Powell had other ideas and went from strength to strength after saving a match point at 11-10 in the 4th set with a wicked backhand topspin winner down the line.
After clinching that set 13-11, he came through a tight 5th 14-12 and an 11-6 triumph in the 6th left him with the momentum heading into the decider. There were some good rallies, however Evans regained his composure and from 5-5 played a near perfect set, getting over the line 11-6.
The most impressive victory on the night for Evans however came in the Under 18 Boys, where he controlled proceedings against his elder and more experienced opponent and top seed Cleal in 5 sets. Cleal has been playing some super table tennis in his debut season in the top-flight of the Doric Insurance sponsored senior leagues, however he was only able to salvage the third set in this encounter, 12-10.
The final title for Evans came in the Under 13 Open Singles, where he comfortably saw off the challenge of Isla Bretel in straight sets.
Keira Eldridge was the other big winner in the remaining Junior events as she defeated Thea Cummins in straight sets to win the Under 15 Girls Crown and Bretel in straight sets in the Under 18 Girls.
Cleal on the other hand made up for his loss to Evans by dispatching Micah Cohen in straight sets to clinch the Under 21 Open Singles crown.
The final Junior event was a great spectacle between two the youngest players within the Association, in the Under 11 Open Singles.
Unseeded Morgan Finn had reached the final thanks to a surprise 7 set win over top seed Keil Butt and here he continued in the same strong vein. His opponent in the final was 2nd seed Perran Lomax and once more an upset victory was achieved. This encounter was hard fought with a number of close sets, Finn winning the 5th set 12-10 to close out an impressive 4-1 triumph.
Match of the night?
The other candidate for match of the night came in the Restricted Open Singles, which is the event which is available for entry for players aged between 21 and 40, excluding any individual to have played in the Green Trophy Inter-Insular event in the past two seasons and also the Men’s and Women’s Singles Island Champions over the past two seasons.
This ruled out the likes of Garry Dodd, Alice Edwards, Ben Foss, Lawrence Stacey, Joshua Stacey, and Ryan Bichard from competing.
The holder of the title was Paul Hainsworth, who has been dominant since the introduction of the tournament in 2014. Hainsworth was vying for his 10th title in 12 years, with fellow Division 1 player Matthew Casey the challenge awaiting. Not once had an Island final in this category gone the full 7-set distance, with Hainsworth’s 6-set win over Bichard last year being the longest match.
This year saw that happen, with both Hainsworth and Casey embroiled in a humdinger of an affair. Casey showed little signs of nerves as he confidently and competently raced into a 2-0 lead.
A commanding lead of 6-3 in the next set had Casey on the brink of putting himself almost home and dry, however Hainsworth battled well, taking the set at the second time of asking, 11-9. Casey saved 2 set points from 8-10 down in the 5th to put himself once more in touching distance of a third set, when leading 11-10.
Hainsworth saved it with a tentative rally from both players at this point and he again went on to edge the set 13-11 and restore parity.
Hainsworth had the game by the scruff of the neck now and he eased through the 5th 11-3 to lead for the first time. He was looking set to conclude proceedings in the 6th, however when leading 9-8, Casey secured a fortunate irretrievable net and this was followed up by a forehand topspin third ball right on the back edge of the table at 9-10, to save a match point. He kept control from here and clinched it 13-11.
Hainsworth made the perfect start to the decider and held a solid 5-2 lead at the change of ends. 2 further strong points which included powerful forehand topspins saw the lead extended to 7-2 and he continued with this strong run of points to give himself 8 match points.
Casey fought hard and saved a couple, however with the aid of a fortunate shot that brushed the net, Hainsworth closed it out 11-4 and with it secured his 10th crown.
Men’s veteran singles
The final two events of the night in the the Over 60’s and Over 70’s Open Singles saw prior champions crowned.
14-time former Men’s Singles champion Mark Pipet had won the Over 60’s title seven times in the last eight years and his quality was once more at the fore against the tricky Craig Dunning, whom he overcame comfortably in straight sets.
The Over 70’s Open Singles saw a debut finalist in Brian Ferbrache, with the popular Lions man doing battle against the 2019 and 2023 winner, Keith Opie. Opie played the match with a high level of control and this saw very few errors made. He ended out being a comfortable 4-0 winner, albeit Ferbrache played his part and came close in a number of sets, including the second, where the score was 12-10.
Overall, it was an entertaining evening of table tennis which was well spectated and well viewed on the live streams via the GTTA’s Youtube account.
The Guernsey champions will now face a few weeks wait before they compete in the Channel Island Championship finals against their Caesarean counterparts at Fort Regent in Jersey on the evening of Friday 25 April.
This is followed by the Inter-Insular team matches, which are being held throughout the day on Saturday 26 April, also at Fort Regent.