News & Updates     27/08/2008 Tournament Entry Form.pdf 25/08/2008 Senior Teams and Fixtures updated 22/08/2008 Alice's Olympic hopes lifted 30/06/2008 First Alderney Junior Tournament 30/06/2008 British Secondary Schools 13/05/2008 Guernsey v Jersey (Teams) - Score Board 12/05/2008 CI Championships Report 09/05/2008 Channel Island Individual Results 09/05/2008 Island Championships 05/04/2008 Primary Schools Report 16/03/2008 Junior Six Nations - Results 02/03/2008 World Championships- Final Positions 19/02/2008 Mini Champs Results 17/02/2008 Euro Kids Report 05/12/2007 Top 10 Report 29/11/2007 Spot for Sport 24/11/2007 Junior 4 Star Event 28/10/2007 Guernsey v Southampton West results 11/09/2007 Message from GTTA Secretary 15/07/2007 Island Games - Rhodes 2007 Message from Webby   Fly for Sport Information Archive - Press Reports ------------------------------ Alice's Olympic hopes lifted In the week Alice Loveridge won her first adult Grand Prix event, she has also been asked to join the senior Great Britain development squad for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The weekend saw the 14-year-old Sarnian make her senior debut and walk away with the band one title at the Liverpool Grand Prix. She also reached the quarter-finals of the open event and the final of the under-21 competition. But prior to the tournament Loveridge, was invited to join the senior GB development squad by top English coach Alan Cooke. 'I'm really pleased and it's another step to the Olympics,' said Loveridge. She is already part of the Under-18s British Talent ID squad and spends one week every month training with the group in Sheffield. She was the only player from the five girls in the programme to be asked to train with the senior squad. The seniors comprise three women aged from 17 years old to 24. They are all based at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield and train full-time. The coaches want Loveridge to move to Sheffield within the next three to six months. Top ------------------------------ British Secondary Schools The British Secondary Schools table tennis championships were held at the Welsh Institute for Sport in Cardiff this weekend. All the home countries were in attendance and all of the top British players were there. Guernsey were competing at under 18, under 16 and under 14 levels in both the team and individual events. The highlight of the weekend for Guernsey was gold medal in the under 16 girls individual event, Alice Loveridge, still only 13, beat England's Lucy Davidson three games to one to confirm her position as the best British player in this age group. Guernsey also picked up a bronze medal in the under 16 girls team event where Alice teamed up with Paula le Ber, to beat Ireland 3-1 to secure third place behind England's A and B teams. There were other good performances from Guernsey's 14 strong contingent, with excellent results for CI champ Gary Dodd and Adam Langlois in the under 18 team, where they narrowly missed out on a medal. Liam Robilliard and Josh Stacey also impressed in the Boy's under 14 team event. In the individual events as well as Loveridge's success Dodd, Robilliard and Oliver Langlois also qualified from their groups for the knock out stages, but were unable to turn good performances into medals. The star of the weekend was undoubtedly Loveridge, the number one seed had a relatively easy qualifying group and won her three games in straight sets, in the quarter finals she played England's no. 3 Rachel Baker and semi finals England's number 2 player Kirsty Wilson, both tough propositions, but dispatched in straight games by Loveridge with no real alarms. In the final she met England's no. 1 Lucy Davidson, Davidson had beaten Loveridge 12-10 in the fifth set of the team event, so Loveridge was intent on revenge in the final. Loveridge was very focussed and noticeably changed tactics against the powerful clean hitting Davidson. By changing the pace of the ball and targeting the Davidson back hand Loveridge succeeded in nullifying the Davidson forehand and this proved to be crucial. In an entertaining game involving some sensational rallies Loveridge stormed into a 2 games lead. Whilst Loveridge was playing well Davidson is a dangerous opponent and at 10-9 in the third the rally of the match went to Davidson to put her back in the game. Loveridge held her nerve however and stepped up another gear to win the fourth and take another national title. England won everything except the under 14 boys team event which was won by Ireland and the under 16 girls individual event. Derek Webb the GTTA president was pleased with the squads performance and stated "that there were some very promising performances and he was encouraged by the performance of some of the younger players who were playing out of age group but gained valuable experience at this level. The prospect of further medals in the future is good." Top ------------------------------ Island Championships A RECORD hammering for the Reds, red cards, revolting Poles and a Green Trophy victory to cap it all. The Siam might be the new Muratti, but with the rugby and football out of the way, the Guernsey Table Tennis Association headquarters at Hougue du Pommier was the place to be on Saturday. For a seventh straight year Guernsey won the Horace Mallett Memorial Trophy for the inter-insular team aggregate, but this time there was barely a slice of red on the colourful electronic scoreboard as the home team rampaged to an 88 games to 22 victory. The last six came courtesy of the Guernsey Green team who regained the trophy with a thrilling 6-4 win to the sound of banging air drums and beery cheers. It was great stuff, unless you were from Jersey, who had already been soundly dominated in the previous evening’s CI championship finals. Top ------------------------------ Island Championships It says something about the health of Guernsey table tennis that the 2008 men's singles champion was not good enough to win the under-18 crown, beaten by a 14-year-old. Finals night at the annual island championships was far from predictable and from start to finish hugely entertaining, with the odd surprise in store. No shock was bigger than the result of the men's under-18 singles in which Garry Dodd, a couple of hours later to be crowned island champion for the first time, lost in five sets to the outstanding young talent that is Olly Langlois. This was no fluke, nor a case of Dodd resting on laurels with one eye on the bigger prize ahead. More a case of a totally focused Langlois brushing aside any negative thoughts, using his extensive armoury to the full and serving warning that his day as island champion is not too far away. It really was a remarkable result, Langlois clinching the trophy with two sets to spare as Dodd failed to return a forehand smash. Two tables away another shock was in store until Scott Romeril reeled off three sets in succession to pip 13-year-old Alice Loveridge 11-6 in the seventh of their under-21 open singles final. At three sets to one ahead Loveridge was within a couple of points of the win at 10-10 in the fifth. But Romeril held his nerve, stole the set 12-10 and added the next two to complete the comeback of the night and belatedly show the form he would have hoped to reproduce in the men's singles showdown with his good mate Dodd. Well, that would have been his intention but clearly Romeril sees Dodd as a bogey and never looked remotely confident. Nine times this season they have played and on eight occasions, including Saturday's blue riband final, the left-hander has come out on top. Romeril lost in five, only managing to wrest the third set. He had a great opportunity in the fourth to make it 2-2, but having called a timeout at 11-10 up, he lost the next point and ultimately saw it slip from his grasp 14-12, a service return into the net sealing the loss of the set. Things might have been different had Romeril squared the match, but we will never know. Later, Dodd confirmed it's tough playing one of your best mates and doubles partner for the top prize in island table tennis. 'No, it's not very nice playing a mate'. 'But I've had a few canings from him'. As with the men's, the women's singles final failed to really take off. Kay Chivers put aside a disastrous earlier loss in the veteran singles, to take a set off Loveridge, but such is the youngster's class it was always evident she had a gear in reserve against her doubles partner. Loveridge finished the night with six trophies in the bag, adding the women's doubles, mixed doubles, under-18 open doubles, under-19 women's singles and under-15 girls' singles to the women's crown. Top ------------------------------ Primary Schools Report Guernsey's youngest table tennis squad is heading to the Isle of Man to play in the British Primary Schools Championships over the coming weekend 4 th-6th April. This will be a tough tournament against the English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish and the Isle of Man teams. Due to a serious arm injury, Laura Harm is unable to participate this year but will still be able to provide valuable support to her team-mates including her twin sister Rachel. Naomi Priest has willingly taken up the reserve position for her first taste of an important tournament for this age group. Other first timers are the brother and sister duo Chloe and Luke Le Tissier. This will be a particularly important outing for Naomi and Chloe as they will be the only two of this particular squad able to participate in future Primary tournaments aimed at school pupils under 12. For 2009, GTTA will be looking for a completely new boy's squad as twins Joshua and Lawrence Stacey, Joshua Butler and Luke Le Tissier will have to concede their placing to the younger rising stars already in the wings awaiting their turn. Kate Stubbington is also one of very few players to have played in 4 consecutive Primary championships and sadly must also give up her place after this weekend. Derek Webb, Becks and many accompanying parents are looking forward to an eventful and hopefully successful weekend of table tennis, a full report will follow upon the team's return. Top ------------------------------ Junior Six Nations - Results   Competitors   Individual Events Junior Girls Group Matches First Round to Final Plate Junior Boys Group Matches First Round to Final Plate Cadet Girls Group Match Results First Round to Final Plate Cadet Boys Group Match Results First Round to Final Plate   Team Events Junior Girls Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Final Positions Junior Boys Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Final Positions Cadet Girls Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Final Positions Cadet Boys Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Final Positions ------------------------------ World Championships Garry Dodd, one of the Guernsey men’s team in China Womens 2nd stage draw Mens 2nd stage draw 28/02/2008 The Guernsey men's team face Iraq today as they sit in a fantastic second place in their Division Four group at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in China. The Sarnian side of Garry Dodd, Scott Romereil and Ollie Langlois secured their runner-up spot behind Republic of Congo yesterday when they narrowly overcame Iceland. 'It was really good,' said 14-year-old Grammar School student Langlois. 'They have been really tight matches and there has been some really good table tennis to watch and play. It's nice to be winning the matches and doing better than last time. The standard is very high.' The match between the greens and Iceland was level after four rubbers. First up Romeril lost in five games to Richard Magnusson before Dodd defeated Magnus K. Magnusson in three. Langlois then took care of Dadi Freyr Gudmundsson 3-1 to put Guernsey in the lead. Iceland made it two-all when Dodd went down to Magnusson. In the deciding rubber, Romeril found himself two games down to Magnusson before he bounced back in fine style to win the next two 11-8 and 11-2. The deciding fifth game went to 10-all before the Guernsey player dug deep to take two clear points to win 12-10 and see his side home. They now face Iraq who are the joint-second side. 'Hey are the second strongest team in our group,' said Langlois. 'If we beat them, it will be good, but they are very strong. They are a big country and they used to be one of the top teams in the world.' Regardless of the result, the Guernsey Table Tennis Association president, Derek Webb is delighted with what his team have achieved. 'The boys are doing excellently,' he said. 'There's only one team ahead of them and that's Congo. If they beat Iraq, they will end up second, which is tremendous, and if they lose, they will end up third, which is also tremendous. On the other hand, the week has been more of a battle for the Guernsey women's team of Dawn Morgan, Becks O'Keefe and Alice Loveridge. Their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Switzerland yesterday morning meant they had lost all their Division Three Group K matches to leave them at the bottom of the pool. Later in the second stage of the competition they took on Puerto Rico in the 61st-place play-off and came off second best. They now take on Mongolia today for the 69th spot. 27/02/2008 Guernsey men registered an outstanding win over Benin in the World Team Championships in Guangzhou, China, yesterday. All three of the team - Garry Dodd, Scott Romeril and Ollie Langlois - tasted success over their East African opponents in their Division Four Group O match on day two of the competition. 'I'm delighted - it's a good win,' said Derek Webb GTTA President. Dodd won the first game against Geoffrey Badokonon before Romeril came close to defeating Monday Olabiyi. The match went to five games, with the 18-year-old Romeril going down 11-8 in the decider. Next up Langlois also had to go to five games in his match with Nassif Ligali, but it was Langlois who was celebrating at the end with a 3-2 victory. Dodd then lost to Olabiyi, but Romeril had few problems getting past Badokonon, winning in straight games. The result went some way to alleviating the pain of earlier in the day when they had lost to the Republic of Congo. Dodd was the only player to win a game in that match. 'This was a lot better performance,' said Webb. 'We could have done better [against Congo].' The Guernsey women also put in a good performance to take a game off Sri Lanka in their Division Three clash. Thirteen-year-old Alice Loveridge was the star when she won a five - game thriller with Ishara Madurangi. The British under-14 champion took the first two games 11-6 and 15-13 before her opponent came back to win the next two 11-9 and 11-3, but Loveridghe dug deep to come back and win the deciding game 11-7. 'It was a great match, Alice played terrifically,' said Webb. 'It was a tight game and it kept us in the match.' Loveridge then went on to narrowly lose her next match with Deepika Rodrigo. The Sri Lankan had earlier taken care of Sarnian Dawn Morgan and with Becks O'Keefe losing to Ruhnsi Wijekoon after having taken a game off her opponent, the Sri Lankans took a 3-1 win. Webb took a lot of positives out of the match and feels that the Guernsey players, men and women, are on the right course. The men are second in their group behind the Republic of Congo, while the women are having a tougher time at the bottom of theirs with four defeats. 'There's not a great gulf,' said Webb. 'We just need to be on top of our game and we'll get some results. All in all, it's going all right.' 'I'm very happy.' 25/02/2008 The Guernsey Men's table tennis team have travelled more than 6,000 miles to China - to beat Jersey. The two islands were have been drawn in the same Division Four group ant the World Team Championships held in the northern city of Guangzhou and were pulled out of the bag to face each other in the first round. But it was the Sarnians who were celebrating afterwards with a memorable 3-1 victory. 'Jersey are gutted and we are very, very ecstatic,' said Guernsey Table Tennis Association president. Derek Webb, who is with the team in the Far East. 'When we saw the draw and we'd come all this way and had Jersey - it was a bit strange. We didn't really want to play them, but they are in our group. 'We've knocked them down a peg or two.' Garry Dodd was the star for the Sarnians. The 17-year-old defeated Jersey's top player and development officer Craig Gascoyne 3-0, with the scores 11-6, 11-8 and 12-10. Garry played absolutely brilliantly and that was the first time that Gascoyne had lost to a Guernsey person,' said Webb. Gascoyne had defeated Scott Romeril 3-0 in the opening game before Dodd came on to beat Josh Band. The youngest member of the Guernsey team, 14-year-old Ollie Langlois, also tasted victory with a 3-0 win over Chris Corfield. 'We're on a high,' said Webb. 'The more games we can win, the higher up the rankings we go.' The Guernsey women's team had had a tougher time in Division Three. In their first run-out on Sunday, they met Macau. The former Portuguese colony on the Chinese coast won 3-0. The greens team of Dawn Morgan, Becks O'Keefe and Alice Loveridge then faced El Savador and Loveridge, who has received funding from Cenkos for the trip, got the better of Estefania Ramiros 3-0, but the Central American country took the honours 3-1. Then up against Montenegro last night, the narrowly lost 3-2. 'It was a great performance and it was very exciting,' said Webb. 'They are disappointed but it was a heartening performance.' Top ------------------------------ Euro Kids Feb 2008 The hard work of the first Euro Kids training camp in 2008 started this week in Guernsey with the participation of 27 players from 14 associations. Unfortunately the ETTU Development Department was informed about the withdrawal of two nominated associations (due to illness and other vis maior) during the last couple of days before arrival. Nevertheless, the lower number of players allows the Head Coach Jarek Kolodiejczyk more individual focus, which is for sure considered as an advantage for those who are present. Because of the organisation of the 1st Guernsey Mini Champs Challenge at the week-end, the usual programme was slightly modified and had the traditional half-day sight-seeing tour on the second day already, which was very much appreciated by all participants. Also the usual Euro Kids Tournament will be played in the middle of the camp, on Tuesday instead of the end in order to avoid too many competition days after each other. Top ------------------------------ Top 10 Report GARRY DODD followed up his Spot for Sport tournament success of last week by heading the local qualifiers for the CI Top 12 singles tournament. With six places open to both the best Sarnians and Caesareans, Dodd emerged unbeaten from the round robin at the Hougue du Pommier featuring Guernsey’s finest. The left-hander was in superb form all day and, in winning nine matches on the bounce, only once was taken the full distance. That came in round five when Alice Loveridge threatened an upset by taking a two sets to one lead, before Dodd took the fourth 12-10 and the decider 11-8. Among his wins were a 3-1 victory over Scott Romeril, who clinched second place with eight wins. The two clashed in the final round when Dodd won 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9. Loveridge was third overall with six wins, but she surprisingly dropped a match to Peter Bretel who was to sneak in as sixth qualifier. The other two to book their trip to Jersey at the end of January were Phil Ogier, who was fourth, and Adam Langlois. GTTA president Derek Webb praised Dodd for his performance, which came on the day the four-month representative ban on both Dodd and Romeril was lifted by the association. ‘As holder of the CI Top 12 trophy, Garry is obviously keen to defend what is a very prestigious title to win,’ said Webb. ‘The games are very tight now, but he seems to be able to up his game to get the result.’ Webb also praised the efforts of junior Matthew Stubbington, who was a late replacement for the unwell Ollie Langlois, who would have expected to qualify for the showdown with Jersey’s top six on Saturday 26 January. Stubbington placed seventh of 10 and notched good wins against Bretel, former Green Trophy player Jez Powell and Mark Fallaize. ‘He had a good day, Stubby, and had some really close games as a stand-in. He did well,’ said Webb. Top ------------------------------ Spot for Sport GARRY DODD won the top gun shoot out as he beat defending champion Scott Romeril in the Spot for Sport final. Romeril, who is also the current Channel Islands title-holder, was arguably the favourite going into the match against his island teammate although they are closely matched. Romeril took the first set, but Dodd showed his fighting qualities in a scintillating encounter in which both produced some stunning shots as he won the next three games to take the honours. Earlier, the groups and first round matches had played themselves out much as expected, with the seeded players from the seven groups all coming through to the quarter-final stage without any problems, although Mark Fallaize struggled initially with the pimpled defence of wily veteran Charlie Elliott. The first quarter-final saw Romeril up against teammate Fallaize and while the latter did well to take a game, the reigning champion was always in control. Young pretender Oliver Langlois took on former island champion Peter Bretel in what was one of the matches of the evening. It seemed over when Bretel went into a 2-0 lead, but Langlois had other ideas. With some amazing retrieving and up-to-the-table hitting, the youngster came away with a 3-2 victory. Next up was the match between Dodd and the elder of the Langlois brothers, Adam – a classic battle between left and right-handed players. Initially, it seemed to favour the right-handed Langlois as he went into a 2-0 lead but Dodd fought back with some sublime table tennis to prevail 3-2. The fourth quarter-final saw previous winner Phil Ogier win in three straight over Neil Hastie. The younger Langlois made life difficult for Romeril in their semi-final as both attacked the ball with great flair. Eventually the more experienced player came out a 3-1 winner. In contrast, the match between Dodd and Ogier was not only a clash of left versus right but also of styles as the former prefers all out attack while Ogier relies on his amazing retrieving skills to wear down his opponents. Unfortunately for Ogier, the power of the left-handed loop and top spin drives of Dodd was too much for his back-hand retrieving defence and Dodd emerged a 3-0 winner. Top ------------------------------ Junior 4 Star Event Click on Thumbnail to enlarge Eleven Juniors, together with coaches and supporters travelled to Stockton-on-Tees last weekend for the 2007 Junior 4 Star Table Tennis Championships. The Championships were divided into Cadet and Junior Team tournaments and Individual tournaments for Mini Cadets, Cadet, Juniors and Grade 1 players. The event was held in the Thornaby Pavilion and was sponsored by Tees Active Ltd. The 17 tables were kept occupied throughout the 2 days and there was plenty of action involving the Guernsey players to keep their supporters involved from start to finish. Players from 7 countries were on view including all the top English players as well as Welsh, Scottish and Irish Internationals. The main success for Guernsey came from the exceptionally talented Alice Loveridge who took home the Cadet Girls Trophy and the runner-up prize in the Junior Girls final. In the Cadet Girls final she beat Natasha Rees from Wales in three straight sets 11-8, 11-5 and 11-7. In the Junior Girls event, the unseeded Alice Loveridge had beaten 4th seed Caroline Hallows on the way to the final. However she came up against Team Peniel's new Chinese recruit Liu Mehan in the final who proved just too tough for her at the end of a long and tiring weekend. She lost the first two games in a match dominated by the spin of her opponent but showed how strong she was when she fought back to win the third 11-8. All the Guernsey supporters hoped for a come back of epic proportions but it was not to be and Liu Mehan proved too strong for Alice in the 4th game to win the match 3-1. In the Junior 7 nation team events early successes were achieved for Guernsey by Adam Langlois and Joshua Stacey, Lawrence Stacey and Liam Robilliard and Oliver Langlois and Matthew Stubbington. While Kate Stubbington and Rachel Harm together with Alice Loveridge and Paula Le Ber lost their matches. Oliver and Matthew, Liam and Lawrence also experienced early successes in the Cadet Boys Team events but couldn't get any further. While Alice shone in the Individual tournaments others also tasted success in the round robin stages. Amongst them, Kate Stubbington, who was then beaten in the first round of the Mini Cadet Singles losing out to the losing finalist in the group. In the Cadet boys both Matthew Stubbington and Oliver Langlois qualified for the final stages but lost in the first round. Oliver Langlois topped a good weekend for him by also qualifying for the final stages of the Boys Grade 1 event. Paula Le Ber played several exciting games against strong opponents while Rachel and Laura Harm acquitted themselves well and came close to gaining their first International successes in thrilling five set matches. In fact many of the games were exceptionally close with players giving their opponents tough games at all levels. Having seen many of these players in action in Cork 7 months ago, the improvement across the board was impressive. Perhaps the biggest improvement came from the smallest players in the team. The Stacey twins received high praise from their coaches for the way they had acquitted themselves as they took on much older and taller opponents - and won. The future is certainly bright for Guernsey Table Tennis. by Tony Brassell Top ------------------------------ Guernsey V Southampton West Results Friday 26 Oct 2007 Saturday 27 Oct 2007 Sunday 28 Oct 2007 ------------------------------ Island Games Medals - Rhodes 2007 Gold Alice Loveridge - Womens Singles Gold Alice Loveridge & Kay Chivers - Womens Doubles Silver Guernsey - Team Event Bronze Dawn Morgan - Womens singles Bronze Dawn & Morgan & Paula Le Ber - Womens Doubles Bronze Scott Romeril & Garry Dodd - Mens Doubles Bronze Scott Romeril & Kay Chivers - Mixed Doubles ------------------------------ Message from Webby The association has doubled in size over the last five years. However, due to this we are in desperate need of volunteers for a range of services. Volunteers are an essential part of all clubs, societies and associations and it enables members to give something back into the sport they love without being part of the main committee. Volunteers are required for the following tasks; Cleaning - Tables/Floors/Windows/Equipment Supervisors - Tuck Shop/Junior League/Saturday Club/Trips Away Coaching - Ball Feeders/Coaching Assistance Umpiring - Umpires for Tournaments Press Reports - Leagues and Tournaments Radio Reports - Leagues and Tournaments Maintenence - Roof Repairs/Painting/Varnishing Floor/Changing Lights Fund Raising - Selling Tickets/Organising Events and Quizzes As you can see the above tasks are varied but paramount for the running of the GTTA. We hope you take this opportunity to help the association and realise the rewarding benefits of your time which will help to keep the GTTA moving forward. If you would like to pledge an hour or two please come and see me, phone me on 254178 or put your name forward on the volunteer list. Webby Top