 Josh Stacey (pictured) last night claimed one of the biggest tournament
victories of his career as he won the Capelles Open Singles at the
Guernsey Table Tennis Centre. The 20-year old ended Garry Dodd's long
winning streak in this tournament that dates back to 2009 with a
thrilling 11-9 victory in the final.
There was a
decent entry of 33 players, young and old competing, including some of
the successful Boys team from the weekend's Primary Schools
International. Stacey came through the group stage unscathed and then
defeated Albert Unden and Ben Foss in the next rounds to set up an
intriguing encounter with the in-form Josh Butler in the semi final. Both
players put on a fantastic display of attacking table tennis featuring
many powerful top-spin hits from the back of the court. It was Stacey
who prevailed by a 3-2 margin, 9-11 11-6 11-6 8-11 11-8.
In
the other half of the draw, Dodd looked to be on top form after topping
his group by beating Peter Powell, Peter Vivian and Mick Ingrouille. He
then defeated Ken Falla in the first round, followed by an impressive
win over 6-time champion Phil Ogier in the quarter final. The semi-final
pitted him against Lawrence Stacey, but Dodd again showed his class,
winning 3-0 for the loss of only 6 points. Most were predicting a
similar result in the final such was Dodd's form but Lawrence's twin
Josh had other ideas.
After losing the first
end of the final 11-6, Stacey upped the ante and produced a mixture of
blocks and counter hits to bounce back and win the next 2 ends, both
11-8. Dodd, however, had won the Capelles Open for a record 7
consecutive years was not going to let his title go without a fight. He
duly won the 4th game 11-6, displaying his full repertoire of shots but
started slowly in the the 5th game and went 6-1 down. Such is the
talent of the multiple time champion that nobody would write him off and
he came storming back to 7-7. But Stacey took a 1 minute time-out to
compose himself and subsequently held his nerve and through a mixture of
blocks, forehand loops and effective fast serving, clinched 4 of the
last 6 points to win the trophy for the first time. |
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