Barnaby Groves will lead the way for Guernsey table tennis next month as he topped the Junior Top 12 Qualification table for a second consecutive season.
The event is a stern test of endurance, as the selected 10 players each play 9 matches in an evening, to determine the top six, and the 15-year-old had to battle hard all evening during some close contests.
Four of his matches went the distance, but Groves showed good composure under pressure, especially when coming back from 2-0 down against Xavier Ingrouille. His sole defeat came early in the evening, 3-1 to in-form defender Micah Cohen, but after that he performed superbly, including beating fellow Division 1 player Oskar Cleal in the final match of the evening to claim top spot.
This was Cleal’s only defeat as he finished level on points, while 3rd placed Luke Evans played well all evening and pushed Groves the full distance, only being beaten by his higher ranked opponents. Cohen claimed fourth place, while the battle for the final qualification spot was between Ingrouille, Ollie Sparks, and Cameron Powell.
Division 2 player Ingrouille was the probably the standout player of the evening with his intelligent positional play and trademark strong blocking and counter attacking shots and he picked up an excellent 3-1 win against Powell to seal his 5th place. This meant the last round featured a straight head-to-head between Sparks and Powell for the final qualification spot and Sparks flew out of the blocks with some powerful forehand drives to take a two-game lead. He subsequently took a short injury break and Powell used this to his advantage, rallying well to take the third game with ease, but his opponent showed good mental resilience to close out the match 3-1.
In the lower positions, young Thea Cummins had a strong debut in the event to finish in 8thplace, with unexpected wins against Ella Le Ber and Keira Eldridge.
The CI Junior Top 12 will take place at the GTTA Centre on Sunday 2 November when Guernsey’s top six qualifiers will face their Jersey counterparts.
The Junior Top 12 Qualification table:
1. Barney Groves 17
2. Oskar Cleal 17
3. Luke Evans 16
4. Micah Cohen 15
5. Xavier Ingrouille 14
6. Ollie Sparks 13
7. Cameron Powell 13
8. Thea Cummins 11
9. Keira Eldridge 10
10. Ella Le Ber 9