2013 Island Championships Day 1

The Island Championships kicked off this evening with the Veterans Open Singles which is open to all players above the age of 40. 

The event drew an entry of 24 players, however this was reduced prior to the start of the event due to the absence of 4th seed Dawn Morgan due to illness.

The draw went with the seedings and top seed Jez Powell (pictured) will therefore meet 2nd seeded Mark Pipet on finals night, which will be contested on Saturday 20th April 2013.

The top seeds may have expectedly reached the final, however their route was far from comfortable. Powell had a tough quarter final clash against Tim Le Page, the number 8 seed. Le Page was playing some high quality table tennis and was tied at 2-2 before the top seed clinched the decisive 5th and 6th ends to clinch victory. In the semi finals it was a similar story when 6th seeded Kay Chivers was level at 2-2. Powell again showed his extra quality and on this occasion motored through the decisive 5th and 6th legs.

Pipet was a straight game victor in his quarter final clash with 7th seed Carl Le Tissier, however the 2nd division Lions player was unfortunate not to sneak an end, losing the first 2 by narrow margins. His semi final against 5th seed Martin Sarre was a classic that could have gone either way. The Whistlers player held a 2-1 advantage before Sarre raised his level strongly to open up a 3-2 lead. Pipet made no mistakes in powering through the 6th to force the decider. The early stages of the 7th were touch and go and the turning point occurred once the 2nd seed had opened up a 5-3 lead at the change of ends. He continued to increase his advantage up until the stage of holding 5 match points at 10-5. To his credit Sarre battled hard and reduced the deficit to 10-8, before an excellent depth Pipet block from a Sarre forehand topspin closed proceedings on the encounter.

Tomorrow evening will see 3 events contested and they are as follows;

Under 18 Boys Singles

Under 18 Girls Singles

Veterans Womens Singles