Jersey’s leading table tennis players enjoyed the spoils at the Senior Top 12 competition held in Fort Regent in Jersey last weekend, taking the top 3 positions.
Lawrence Stacey had led Sarnian hopes by virtue of his strong performance in the local qualification event held in December, where he had won all 9 of his matches. However despite a good showing, he was not quite able to secure a medal, finishing just shy in 4th spot.
Guernsey had dominated this event just two seasons ago where the top 4 spots all went to Guernsey players.
The Caesareans have seen strong improvements in the standard of their leading players since, with the arrival of former Scottish International and defending Top 12 champion Chris Wheeler, plus the always improving Leon Pierre, who claimed the Jersey Men’s Singles title for the first time in December, overcoming Wheeler in the final.
Despite strong showings from both of these players, who finished in second and third respectively, it was an experienced individual that took the trophy, in the form of 2008 winner Grzegorz Frankowski. The victory made him just the 6th player to lift the trophy on multiple occasions and he did so in style by winning all 6 of his matches against his Guernsey opposition.
Despite his victory, he was made to work hard in all of these clashes, needing four sets to get past Stacey, twin Joshua, Alex Robinson, Liam Robilliard and Jamie Ferbrache, with only Matt Casey overcome in straight sets.
For Lawrence, he started out in the best possible fashion with a hard fought 3-2 win over the tricky Mariusz Cieminski, in a match which he had trailed 2-1 in. In addition to this, he battled past Alfie Sutherland in 5 sets and also earned a 4-set victory over William Cornthwaite. His other defeats came at the hands of Wheeler in 4 sets and Pierre in straight sets.
Joshua finished 7th on countback behind Cieminski and Sutherland, however he defeated Cieminski in 5 sets as well as beating Cornthwaite in straight sets. His 5 set defeat to Sutherland proved costly in him not finishing in 5th spot outright, although he was the player to push Pierre the closest on the day, losing narrowly in 5 sets in a match which he had led 2-1 in.
Robinson was just behind in 8th and despite battling well in all matches, his only victory came over Cornthwaite over 4 sets, the same outcome for Robilliard who finished in 11th.
Casey finished in 10th just ahead of Robilliard on countback, however despite playing well all day, he was unable to secure a victory, losing out over the full 5 set distance to Cieminski, Sutherland and Cornthwaite.
Finally Ferbrache finished in bottom spot, however he too gave a strong account for himself despite not picking up any wins. His closest encounter was against Cornthwaite, who won in 5 sets. He did not lose a single match in straight sets, pushing all Jersey opposition during the clashes.
