Guernsey Table Tennis Association

Training Camp

We've welcomed coach Matt Porter and players visiting from Worthing TTC this weekend. Some great opportunities for our players to learn from an experienced Level 3 coach in training camps plus enjoying some downtime this evening with food and golf at Golf19. 

GTTA Individual Handicap Singles

The junior section of Guernsey Table Tennis showed the adults how it was done as they dominated the GTTA Individual Handicap tournament on Monday evening.

With a record entry meaning a later finish than initially expected, the final pitted 12 year old Luca Sidaner against 11 year old Luke Evans in a fantastic showcase of attacking play.

The unseeded nature of the event threw up an interesting draw and although this year saw a drop in the number of the GTTA’s top players entering, there was one particularly difficult group as Division 1 players Jez Powell and Shelby Timms were joined by Division 2’s in-form Brandon Ferbrache. Ultimately it was Timms who lost out with two defeats, but her two group-mates were subsequently eliminated by younger players in the next round.

By the quarter finals, the top players had all fallen by the wayside, as the last 8 were all aged 18 or younger.  Evans drew the dangerous Henri Whitehorne, winner of the St Pauls Handicap in September and the pair produced a lengthy and spectacular match. The younger player’s attacking topspin shots contrasted with Whitehorne’s more tactical, conservative play and after some intense rallies featuring multiple smashes and sky-lobs, Evans triumphed 21-15, 16-21, 22-20. Across the hall, fellow Primary Schools International player Keira Eldridge narrowly lost out to Barnaby Groves who claimed an excellent victory at deuce in the deciding game.

In the semi-final, Sidaner had too much firepower for Groves, winning in straight sets off a 14 point start, while Evans did well to overcome the form player from Division 4, Xavier Ingrouille, from a 9-point deficit.

Sidaner went into the final with a 13-point handicap, but also had the advantage of being on the quicker side of the draw and had time for a break before the final. He put his foot down early on and romped through the first game to the loss of only 6 points. Evans came back strongly in the second game, but his opponent’s points advantage and strong backhands were too much, as Sidaner closed the match out 21-6, 21-16.

Jack Carrington Singles

Phil Ogier won his 6th Jack Carrington Singles title on Monday evening following a hard fought 4 set win over defending champion Ryan Bichard in the final. This was a reverse of the final from the prior year when Bichard had beaten Ogier by the same score in the final.

The event, which precludes players to have represented Guernsey in the blue riband Green Trophy Inter-Insular event for the past 2 years, was well represented with a strong entry of 36 individuals all vying for the title, despite Ben Foss, Joshua Stacey and Lawrence Stacey being ineligible to compete.

All 12 groups of 3 players contained a seeded player, all of which compete in the top flight of the Doric Insurance sponsored leagues. These players all showed their quality and ended as group winners. The narrowest of these was in Group K where Andy Gill just managed to edge out Division 2 player Kay Chivers over the full 5 set distance. Chivers led 2-1 in their encounter before Gill powered through the 4th set 11-4. He trailed 6-2 in the deciding end but fought hard and came through the deciding end 11-9 to top the group and leave Chivers as runner-up.

Some of the Island’s younger players continued to impress and none more so than 11-year-old Luke Evans, who managed to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. He secured an excellent 5 set win over the more experienced Division 2 player Ben Foote in a match which he trailed 2-1 in. He battled hard to edge the 4th set 12-10 and from there won the decider comfortably, to progress as Group C runner-up.

Another youngster who excelled was 4th Division junior Micah Cohen. Cohen gave 3rd Division’s Steve Martin a real scare when leading 2-1, before the extra experience told and Martin managed to win in 5. Evans evening ended in the first knockout round to fellow Division 3 player Shaun Mosley in 4 sets, whilst Chivers continued her evening with a strong straight sets win over Division 1 player Shelby Timms. The surprise of the first knockout round came from Henri Whitehorne who used his unconventional style to outlast Andy Ferbrache 11-9 in the decider. The match contained some excellent rallies with Whitehorne showing great composure.

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The second Collenette Jones Junior Banded Tournament of the season took part on Saturday, with players from across the junior coaching groups competing, and for some it was their first experience of table tennis competition.

Despite some top players not entering, there was lots of great table tennis on display with the 18 young players competing for medals and showing off their skills.

 

Band One Winner Xavier Ingrouille took advantage of the group favourite Ollie Sparks being unwell on the day and showed that he is one to watch in the coming months, only dropping one set all afternoon to 3rd placed all-rounder Luca Sidaner.  Runner up spot went to the improving defensive player Micah Cohen.

 

In Band 2 it was under-11 player Daniel Martin who took the honours, having beaten in-form Isla Bretel narrowly 2–1. Martin used his powerful forehand to good effect in the match, winning 8-11, 11-5, 11-9.

 

The Band 3 title went to 8-year-old newcomer Keil Butt, whose movement round the table and topspin loops were particularly effective, while the runner up spot went to the ever-improving Jasper Kimber.  

 

The players of the day awards are presented to individuals showing good sportsmanship and a positive attitude and was a hard decision for the coaching team to make.  It was decided that there would be joint winners, with young Mason Eldridge and Ella Le Ber both having been promoted to higher bands and playing some excellent table tennis against their opponents losing narrowly inmost games.

 

The Collenette Jones Banded Tournaments are a key part of the Guernsey Table Tennis development strategy and this was the final such event of the season before April’s Island Championships  


Results

Collenette Jones Banded Tournament

Success for Evans in Plymouth


11-year old Guernsey Table Tennis junior player Luke Evans wrapped up a successful weekend in his first off-island junior open event in the Plymouth 4-star Junior Open.

Evans came away with Gold in the U11 event beating England player Thomas Nguyen, saving 2 match points before winning 7–11, 9–11, 15–13, 12-10, 11 -8. Evans knuckled down and stopped the English boy from attacking him and started to use the table well with his slow topspin forehands which changed the game.

In the U13 event Evans came away with a runner-up spot in the plate final having come 3rd in a tough group, narrowly losing out on qualification for the main draw. Evans lost to James MacQuillan in the final of the plate 3–1 despite having beaten Macquillan earlier in the morning in his group 3–2.

It was a great experience for Evans competing against young players from the UK and picking up wins against some highly-ranked England juniors. Evans hopes to attend more of these tournaments in the future.


Lawrence Stacey’s return to form continued with success in the Lions Spot for Sport Open Singles tournament on Monday evening as he successfully defended the crown won last year and making him a 3-time winner in the process.

His title was concluded courtesy of a hard fought 4 set victory over the record holding 10-time former champion Phil Ogier and ended the impressive run of Ben Foss, who had won all 3 Open Singles tournaments so far this season.

The tournament was well supported with 30 players contesting the initial group stages of the event, despite the fact it was being held during half term. The 10 seeded players all navigated safe route to the knockout stages as group winners, however this did not prevent some interesting clashes from taking place.

The final group was particularly tough as it saw 10th seed Nye Matthew up against fellow top flight player Andy Gill and the rising junior player Aiden Ozanne and the group outlasted all others by a significant amount of time. It started quickly as Matthew impressively ousted Gill in straight sets but was followed by 2 hard fought 5 set matches included 3rd Division junior Ozanne. Ozanne was playing some excellent table tennis against his seeded opposition Matthew first out and led 2-1 after pinching a tight third end 12-10. The match saw some excellent long rallies and shots from both players as Matthew comfortably took the fourth end to force a decider. This was another set which could have gone either way, but Matthew did just enough and edged it 12-10 to secure top spot in the group. Ozanne was up against Gill in the final match to see who would join the seed in the knockout rounds. Ozanne comfortably took the first, before Gill managed to secure control of the match by winning the next 2 ends tightly and he followed this up with a commanding 6-0 lead in the fourth set. Ozanne showed great fight which saw him incredibly turn it around and take it 11-9, but unfortunately ran out of steam as Gill’s added experience showed in the final set, which he took 11-5.

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Lions Spot for Sport

Channel Islands Top 12

It was a good day for Guernsey as the Sarnians claimed the top 4 places in the Channel Islands Top 12 tournament on Saturday:


1 J Stacey (G) 21 points

2 L Stacey (G) 21

3 R Bichard (G) 20

4 P Ogier (G) 18

5 A Sutherland (J) 18

6 J Le Fondre (J) 16

7 J Powell (G) 16

8 C Morshead (J) 15

9 A Gill (G) 14

10 W Cornthwaite (J) 14

11 T de Poerk (J) 13

12 O Karwowski (J) 12



Results   |   Streaming  |  Report

Capelles Ladies Handicap Singles

Hollie Jenkins won the third and final tournament of the 2024 Capelles series by claiming the Ladies Handicap Singles. The event featured many of the strong juniors coming through the GTTA coaching system, and experienced players such as Island Games pair Shelby Timms and Paula Le Ber found themselves in for a tough evening.

Timms was eliminated 2-0 in the group stage by Primary Schools International player Megan Robinson, while Le Ber went out to Division 3 player Jenny Powell in the quarter final by the same scoreline.

The Alderney contingent were in particularly good form, with Jenkins and Sian Craig both excelling in their respective draws.  Craig defeated young Isla Bretel in the quarter final to set up an all-Ridunian semi-final, where the pair engaged in some excellent attacking rallies. Jenkins initially made light work of the 6-point handicap deficit, before Craig rallied back with some excellent counter-attacking strokes to take the match into a decider. Despite a good start from Jenkins, Craig again fought back, out-attacking her opponent to win 24-22, 15-21, 22-20

In the final, Jenkins came up against recent Handicap Doubles winner Eldridge, and her younger opponent initially made the most of the +6 handicap, attacking well to take the first end 21-12. The next two games were nip and tuck, but Jenkins’ experience shone through, as she won them 23-21, 21-18 to take home the trophy.

Results

Capelles Open Singles

Ben Foss has started 2024 in the same manner in which he concluded 2023, with another victory in an Open Singles tournament. His success in the Capelles Open Singles was the third consecutive Open title of the season, following silverware in the Senior Group in October and the Whistlers Open Singles in November.


Having won in 2020 and 2021, this time was a commanding straight sets victory over the reigning champion Joshua Stacey following an assured evening of strong performances. The tournament saw one of the strongest entries so far this season with a sizable list of 39 entrants all competing for the spoils across 13 groups of 3 players. The entry was particularly strong as it saw 16 Division 1 players entered, with just 5 missing. This threw up a number of very tough groups containing 2 top flight players. The 13 seeded players did all navigate the initial group stages as group winners, with the exception of 10th seed Jamie Ferbrache, who was in a particularly tough Group J which included fellow Division 1 player Shelby Timms and the tricky Division 2 averages leader Craig Dunning. Ferbrache battled back from 2-0 down against Dunning to force the decider, but the Whistlers player managed to edge it 13-11. Ferbrache secured safe flight to the knockout draw by beating Timms in straight sets, a feat mirrored by Dunning.


The first knockout round outlined the increasing standards of 2 youngsters, who tested their more experienced Division 1 opponents. 2nd Division’s Oskar Cleal was up against 12th seed Steve Ozanne and did well to level the encounter at 1-1 after clinching the second set 12-10. Ozanne’s extra quality did shine through in the end, and it saw him through in 4 sets. Ravenscroft Panthers Division 3 player Barney Groves was up against 11th seed Nye Matthew and came out the blocks well by taking the opening set 11-9. Matthew was too consistent on the night however, and also won in 4 sets in a well contested affair. Ozanne’s evening ended at the last 16 stage to 8th seed Liam Robilliard, whilst Ferbrache went out to 3rd seed Phil Ogier. Dunning came close to securing another scalp as he edged into a 2-1 lead over 6th seed Paul Hainsworth, fighting back from 10-8 down in the third set and enjoying 2 fortunate unretrievable nets from 10-10 and an upset looked to be on the cards. Hainsworth held firm however and increased his level in the remaining 2 sets to comfortably take them 11-6, 11-5.


The quarter finals saw Foss drop his first set of the evening, to Matthew. He bounced back strongly and comfortably closed out the following sets to win. Finalist Stacey came through over Robilliard in 4 sets, which was the same scoreline by which 4th seed Ryan Bichard dispatched Hainsworth by. The final encounter saw 5th seed Lawrence Stacey overcome Ogier in three closely contested sets.


The semi finals were well fought affairs which tested Foss and Josh. Foss played some excellent table tennis against Lawrence and won in 4 sets, with Lawrence rueing 2 consecutive fault serves whilst leading the 4th end 7-5. Josh looked in a strong position in the other semi whilst leading Bichard 2-0, however the continually improving younger Lions player fought back strongly to take the next 2 ends by matching 11-8 scores. Stacey pivotally made a strong 5-0 start to the deciding end, and this helped him eventually close out the match 11-8. The final was a subdued affair as it saw Foss continue his strong form displayed during the evening and he had too much firepower and consistency for Stacey. The second end was the closest, but Foss took it 11-9 and from there he closed out the decisive end 11-6.

Capelles Handicap Doubles

After the Christmas break, table tennis returns early in 2024 with the traditional January tournament season. The Capelles Handicap Doubles is one of the more popular events, with entrants being drawn with a random partner, pitting together players from different clubs and teams across the GTTA leagues. Ultimately it was the combination of Division 1 veteran Jez Powell and Under-12 representative Keira Eldridge that proved a winning one as they recovered from an early setback to win the trophy.

On the day, the draw computer produced some intriguing partnerships, and it was Katey Collenette and Micah Cohen who looked early favourites as they triumphed comprehensively in Group D. On the adjacent table, Division 4 Bribar juniors Ella Le Ber and Connor Osborne were using their significant handicap head start to good effect with positive play, however they were eventually beaten in the quarter final by Juliette Yeaman and Sonia Le Page, 2 games to 1. Collenette and Cohen were narrowly beaten in the semi-final by the experienced duo of Cave and Wingrave, while Powell and Eldridge overcame Yeaman and Le Page 23-21 in a thrilling final end.

The final was a rematch of an earlier Group C tie, and Eldridge showing her improving match play by hitting some excellent smashes on both forehand and backhand side from Powell’s clever setup play. The duo won the first end on deuce, before Cave and Wingrave rallied to take the second comfortably. The final set was tense and difficult to predict a winner, but Powell and Eldridge clawed back the 12 points handicap with some excellent rallies, winning 22-20, 7-21, 21-18.

Results


CI Top 12 Qualification

After a long evening of close matches, the following 6 players qualified to play Jersey in the Channel Islands Top 12 in January:


1 Lawrence Stacey 17

2 Joshua Stacey 17

3 Ryan Bichard 17

4 Jez Powell 14

5 Phil Ogier 14

6 Andy Gill 13

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7 Jamie Ferbrache 12

8 Steve Ozanne 11

9 Joe Bourgaize 11

10 Matthew Casey 2  (ret'd hurt) 


Results


Senior British League

A few weeks can make a big difference and this turned out to be true for some of the leading Island table tennis players last weekend, when the third round of matches in the Senior British National League took place.

Just two weeks prior both Guernsey 1 and Guernsey 2 experienced some difficult matches, which resulted in defeats in all 8 matches contested. This time was a much better outing and the sole reduced round of action, with play just taking place on the Saturday, saw 3 victories obtained out of 4.


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Wrong-Handed Tournament

Sam Clark was victorious in the year-ending Peter & Rosemary Powell Wrong-handed Tournament at the GTTA Centre on Monday evening. In its third year, the novelty event features table tennis league regulars playing with their ‘wrong’ or opposite hand, favouring those who are more ambidextrous, or who perhaps practice in their spare time.

In the absence of last year’s winner Ben Foss, the field was open, and the standard of play could be only described as variable across the round robin groups. Clark chose to err on the side of caution with his left hand, and having cruised through Group B and preliminary rounds, was pushed all the way in the quarter final against the talented Liam Robilliard, triumphing 11-9 in the final set. The final against tournament mastermind Jez Powell was an entertaining affair, as Powell raced into a 2-0 lead, before Clark’s steady left hand guided him back into the game with some clever angles and lobs. At 13-13 in the deciding 5th set, the two players produced a 50 plus shot rally, with Powell eventually missing a routine forehand smash, to set Clark up for the winning point, which he converted and added himself as a new name on the trophy.


Results


Senior British League

Guernsey’s leading table tennis players returned to action in the Senior British National Leagues last weekend, when the second round of fixtures from the 2023/24 season took place.

Action for both Guernsey sides took place at the Halton Regional Table Tennis Centre in Widnes, Cheshire and resulted in some close matches, but ultimately a disappointing weekend overall for both sides.

The Guernsey A side in particular will have been most disappointed as heading into the weekend they were level 2nd, having won 3 of their fixtures first time out.

The strong team of Ben Foss, Lawrence Stacey, Joshua Stacey and Ryan Bichard played some good table tennis but ended up on the wrong end of all 4 fixtures, leaving them 5th in the table within the strong National A-1 Division, which consists of 8 teams.


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Home Countries International

It was a tough weekend for the Guernsey team who travelled to Bangor University in Wales for the Home Countries International.


The player performed well against strong opposition from  England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man & Jersey and some of the junior players were playing up an age group.


There was a bronze medal in the Doubles event for the Junior Girls pairing of Sian Craig and Keira Eldridge and also notable individual wins for Garry Dodd and Oskar Cleal.


Full results to follow...




Bat & Ball

We welcomed our friends from Bat & Ball over for their annual trip to Guernsey at the weekend.  


Bat & Ball came out victorious by a score of 82- 38




Bat & Ball Teams


Full Results

Home Countries International

Good luck to the Guernsey team who have travelled to Bangor for the Home Countries International. They will compete against England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man & Jersey.


Download the programme




Ben Foss maintained his strong start to the season by claiming consecutive silverware courtesy of

victory in the Whistlers Open Singles tournament last week. 

His Senior Group title last month was his first within that event, however this victory in the Whistlers

Open Singles is his 3rd in this event, with previous wins coming in 2 of the prior 3 seasons. His victory

culminated in a hard fought 4 set win over defending champion Lawrence Stacey.

There was a healthy contingent of 36 entrants all vying for the title and all keen to compete, having

missed league action in the prior week due to the storm. Across the 12 groups all seeds qualified through to the knockout stages along with another 12 players.


In all instances this saw the seeded player emerge as group winner, with the single exception being

in Group G where 7th seed Steve Ozanne needed to settle for a runners-up spot. The tough group

included Division 2 players Craig Dunning and Joe Ingrouille, with the former holding a 100% singles

record in the second Division at the time. It was indeed the tricky Dunning who came through as

group winner due to his gutsy 5 set win over Ozanne in a match where he battled back strongly from

a 2-0 deficit to take the spoils.


A notable performance from the group stages saw Division 3 junior player Barnaby Groves qualify

from Group D due to his 5-set win over Division 1 player Shelby Timms. He took the runners-up spot

behind 4th seed Paul Hainsworth and continued his strong evening by edging out 2nd Division fellow

Ravenscroft Panthers player Ben Foote in the first knockout round. The encounter was an epic which

saw 3 of the 5 sets contested go beyond the regulation 11-point distance. Foote won the first 17-15

and the 4th 14-12, whilst Groves took the 3rd 15-13. The other 2 sets were won by Groves 11-7 to

secure safe passage. His evening end in the Last 16 stage to 3rd seed Phil Ogier in straight sets.

The Last 16 threw up some notably tough matches between seeded players. The closest of these saw 12 th seeded Andy Gill battle past 8th seed Joseph Bourgaize in 5 sets. Gill held a sizable lead in the deciding end and despite a fightback from his opponent, managed to edge past 11-9. 6th seed Lawrence Stacey dropped the second end to 10th seed Jamie Ferbrache, but won in 4 sets, whilst 5th seed Jez Powell bounced back from losing the opening set to defeat 9th seed Liam Robilliard in 4 sets. The final match between seeded players at this stage saw Hainsworth defeat Ozanne in straight sets.

In the quarter finals Foss needed 4 sets to get past 11th seed Sam Clark, whilst Lawrence showed

some fine form during a straight sets rout of Hainsworth. Top seed Joshua Stacey beat Gill in 3 very

close sets, including the 3rd which was edged 19-17, whilst Ogier was a comfortable straight sets

winner over Powell. The first of the semi finals was a classic between Foss and Ogier which went back and forth. Foss was always ahead due to him winning the first and third ends, but Ogier hung in and edged a tight 4th set 12-10. The deciding set was hard fought throughout, but it was Foss that pulled through by the narrowest of margins, 11-9.

The other semi final saw Lawrence continued his strong form from the evening as he managed to

fight back from losing the opening set to twin brother Joshua to come through in 4 sets.


Stacey looked to be in firm control of the final after winning the opening set 11-4 and holding a

comfortable lead in the second end, but Foss dug deep and managed to claw back the deficit and

take the 2 nd 12-10. The remaining 2 ends could have gone either way, but Foss played the big points

well and it enabled him to secure the title via 11-8 and 15-13 sets.

Whistlers Open Singles


CI Junior Top 12

It was a tough day for the Guernsey contingent today as the visitors claimed the top 3 places in the CI Junior Top 12:


1. John Le Fondre (J)

2. William Cornthwaite (J)

3. Theo de Poerck (J)

4. Callum Allaway (J)

5. Aiden Ozanne (G)

6. Kevan Moreira (J)

7. Oskar Cleal (G)

8. Connor Powell (G)

9. Jayden Tucknott (G)

10. Shelby Timms (G)

11. Barnaby Groves (G)

12. Alex Fernandes (J)


Results


Umpiring

Blue Badge International Umpire Ben Foote was in Turkey last week, representing Guernsey as a match official at WTT Contender Antalya. Selected by World Table Tennis as the only visiting umpire from Europe, the week-long tournament culminated in Foote having the honour of umpiring the Men's Singles final. The match between Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Felix Le Brun, a match that was won by the young Frenchman, 12-10 in the seventh game. 

Junior Tournaments

It was a busy afternoon at the table tennis centre with 10 Under-14 boys and 10 Under-14 Girls playing a round robin.

The Peter Powell Cup for Endeavour played for by the invited boys was won by the impressive Oskar Cleal and second spot went to 11 year old Aiden Ozanne.


The Becks O'Keefe Girls Cup was won by fast-improving Emily Gavey with second spot going to Keira Eldridge.

It was a great display of table tennis by our many young players. Thanks to the many members that give up their time to umpire the matches.


Photos by Martin Sarre, which can be seen on our Flickr page.


Results:   Boys   |  Girls




Veterans Six Nations

There is an important Table Tennis event held yearly which has remained a low profile in the sporting calendar and is in the opposite spectrum of our prestigious youth tournaments, and this is the Veterans Home Countries hosting Ireland, Scotland, England, Jersey, Isle of Man, Wales, and Guernsey.

 

Each Country host the Tournament on a rotation basis entering teams in The Over 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 75’s as well as Doubles and Singles knockouts.

 

This year our teams will be travelling on the 28th September to Dublin with the following:-

 

Over 40’s – Jamie Ferbrache, Steve Ozanne

Over 50’s – Men: Craig Dunning , Ian Le Page

Ladies: Dawn Morgan, Kay Chivers

Over 60’s – Lionel Jones, Peter Vivian, Kathleen Copeland (IRE)

Over 70’s – Rob Vile, Terry Trustum

Over 75’s – Keith Opie, Maurice James.


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The domestic table tennis season may have been underway for well over a month, however the wait for the first ‘Open’ scratch start tournament was long awaited and it took place on Monday evening when the Lions Senior Group tournament was held. The 3-time consecutive defending champion Lawrence Stacey was absent from the healthy field of 36 entrants, leaving the door wide open for a new champion to be crowned. The only other entrant in the field that was a former champion was serial 11-time former winner Phil Ogier, who won the event as recently as the 2019-2020 season. The top ranked player for the event, Ben Foss, ended the evening as a worthy debutant victor following a 4-set win over second seed Joshua Stacey in the showpiece final.

All of the 12 seeded players successfully navigated their group; however, 9th seed Nye Matthew was the sole seed not to top his group. He needed to settle for the runners-up spot due to losing out to the rapidly improving fellow Division 1 player Connor Powell, who won in 4 sets.

It was encouraging to see a number of junior players enter the event and it saw success for 3 that managed to qualify for the knockout rounds. 2nd Division player Cameron Powell defeated Mark Windsor in 4 sets to get through, whilst Henri Whitehorne upset 2nd Division stalwart Maurice James in 4 sets in Group F. The best result however came from 3rd Division junior Ollie Sparks who battled to a 5-set win over 2nd Division player Ben Foote in a match which he had trailed 2-1. Whitehorne and Sparks met in the first knockout round of the main draw and it was Whitehorne who came through in straight sets. Whitehorne’s evening came to an end against Stacey in the Last 16 in straight sets.

The first round saw a few clashes between Division 1 players and the first saw 11th seed Joseph Bourgaize beat Shelby Timms in straight sets. More gruelling was a particularly tough looking encounter between 10th seed Sam Clark and Matthew. Clark had won their league encounter a few weeks prior and again he emerged on top courtesy of a 4-set win. The other seeded players began meeting from the Last 16 onwards and the higher ranked players won on all occasions comfortably with the exception of Clark, who upset 6th seed Liam Robilliard via a straight sets win.

The Quarter Finals included all the expected players per the seedings, plus Clark. Foss was tested towards the latter part of his encounter with 8th seed Jez Powell but recovered well from dropping the third set to win the 4th set 11-6. Stacey was clinical during his straight sets win over 7th seed Steve Ozanne, whilst 4th seed Paul Hainsworth was equally decisive during his straight sets win over Clark. The final match of the round saw a well fought contest between 3rd seed Ogier and 5th seed Bichard. The first 2 sets were shared before Bichard managed to impressively power through in 4 sets.

The first 2 sets between Foss and Hainsworth were well contested in the first of the semi final matches before Foss increased his level and cruised through the deciding set. On an adjacent table Stacey looked in control when he pinched a tight 2nd set 12-10 to lead 2-0, however Bichard fought back taking the 3rd set 11-7 and opened up an early 4-2 advantage in the next set. Stacey regained his composure and managed to edge through 11-9 to make the final.

The final itself was a slightly different encounter between the duo with Foss in particular adapting his game on the fly and playing strokes with less spin than he is usually accustomed to imparting on the ball. The strong start by Foss in the opener was pacified by Stacey comfortably winning the second 11-5 and the elder player continued to look like he was in the ascendancy during the majority of the 3rd set. Foss dug deep however and managed to fight back to take it 11-8. The decisive 4th set was another which could have gone either way. Stacey held a set point at 10-9 but saw a promising forehand flick go long. Foss then played 2 solid points to clinch the title.

Senior Group Tournament

Collenette Jones Junior Banded Tournament

The first Junior Banded Tournament of the year attracted a good entry from the GTTA juniors, all sporting new purple playing shirts, courtesy of sponsor Collenette Jones.



Full report



Results  |  Photos



British League Round 1

With the domestic table tennis season having commenced a few weeks ago, Guernsey's top players travelled to the UK this weekend to contest the first fixtures in the Senior British National Leagues. 


The prior season had been fruitful for the leading Sarnian side as the return to British League action following a COVID-enforced break a few seasons prior resulted in them re-entering the leagues in National B, which is the 4 th tier of action within the British League pyramid. Promotion was obtained at the first time of asking for the youthful side of Ben Foss, Lawrence Stacey, Joshua Stacey and Ryan Bichard and the quartet return this time out for their step-up to the

third tier, where they are competing in National A-1. 


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Junior Top 12 Qualification

Jayden Tucknott finished in 1st place in tonight's Junior CI Top 12 Qualification and will be joined by the 5 other qualifiers to play Jersey's top 6 on Sunday 5th November:


1. J Tucknott

2. Co Powell

3. O Cleal

4. S Timms

5. B Groves

6. A Ozanne

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7. J Crocker

8. L Evans

9. A Lihou

10. A Paul 


Results

Junior Top 12 Qualification Selection



The following players have been selected for the Junior Top 12 Qualification event on 3rd October at 18:30:


Aiden Ozanne

Albie Lihou

Barnaby Groves

Cameron Powell

Connor Powell

James Crocker

Jayden Tucknott

Luke Evans

Oskar Cleal

Shelby Timms



Veterans Home Nations



Best of luck to our Veterans team, who are in Dublin this weekend, competing against England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Isle of Man in the Veterans 6 Nations. Updates and results can be found on the event site:


 https://www.sixnationsveteranstabletennis.co.uk 

The 2023/24 Guernsey table tennis season kicked off with a bang on Monday evening as some of the island’s best junior players showed their ability against the adults in the St Pauls Handicap tournament.  As the traditional season-opener, it has long been a popular tournament as the nights start to draw in and players look to sharpen their skills ready for the Doric Insurance league season. Henri Whitehorne claimed the honours with a thrilling final win over fellow junior Barnaby Groves.

After the group stages what finished it was clear that on this occasion the lower division players were performing well with a number from Divisions 3 and 4 in contention as the majority of top players found their handicap deficit too much to overcome.

Whitehorne, fresh off the back of a successful Summer League, progressed through Group D with relative ease against First Division player Nye Matthew and Ian Le Page, while Groves overcame Isla Bretel and Steve Ozanne. By the quarter finals, the positive attacking play of the junior players was paying dividends and suited the handicap scoring system. In-form Micah Cohen beat Bretel before going down to Whitehorne, while Alex Hutchinson showed his recent improvement with an excellent 2-1 win over Keira Eldridge.

In the semi-finals, Whitehorne’s loops were too much for the defensive-minded play of Cohen, while Groves was impressive in a 21-17, 21-19 victory over Alex Hutchinson.

The final was one of the best in living memory as both players slugged out an entertaining, attacking match. Groves gave away a 2-point start, but such was the evenness of the contest, it as difficult to predict a winner. The first set was taken by Whitehorne 21-17 with some fine counter hitting in the final stages, but in the second, Groves played a more controlled and aggressive style to win 21-16.

The final set was a nail-biting point for point with both players displaying impressive attacking and return shots with Groves holding 2 match points, but was incredibly unlucky as Whitehorne managed to save both with fortunate unreturnable net-cord shots. The 18-year old then set up a match point of his own after some fine defensive play from the back of the court and duly converted 23-21.


Results

St Pauls Handicap


Channel Islands Top 12

It was a good day for Guernsey as the Sarnians claimed the top 4 places in the Channel Islands Top 12 tournament on Saturday:


1 J Stacey (G) 21 points

2 L Stacey (G) 21

3 R Bichard (G) 20

4 P Ogier (G) 18

5 A Sutherland (J) 18

6 J Le Fondre (J) 16

7 J Powell (G) 16

8 C Morshead (J) 15

9 A Gill (G) 14

10 W Cornthwaite (J) 14

11 T de Poerk (J) 13

12 O Karwowski (J) 12



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