Senior Schools International

Largs, Scotland – 24-26 June 2022

Results:

Team Event  |  Singles Event

It was a tough but rewarding weekend for the Guernsey table tennis teams who played in the Senior Schools International in Largs, Scotland.  With the pandemic meaning that the annual tournament has not taken place since it was hosted on home soil in 2019, the Sarnian team were relatively inexperienced, with 11 of the 14 players travelling to their first event abroad.

The tournament featured competitions in under-14, under-16 and under-18 age groups against England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Jersey.  With some players playing up an age group, the matches were always going to be difficult against some of the best junior players in the country, in a tournament that has previously featured future Olympians such as Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho.

Unfortunately, flight delays caused a late arrival to the SportScotland Centre, and although thankfully there were no matches missed, the players were all straight into team event action with no time for warmups or acclimatisation. Ben Sharp showed few signs of rustiness in the Under-18 Boys' event, pushing England B's Octavian Aparschivei all the way in his opening match followed by a good win against Scotland's Jacob Munro.  Paired with Connor Powell, the duo would go on to beat Jersey on Saturday. The Under-18 Girls were also competitive against Scotland and Shelby Timms, playing up an age group, did well to defeat Jessica Hogg 3-1.

The Under-16 Boys' team found it tough going, with both Seb Jennings and Xavier Ingrouille in the younger half of their age group, with the highlight being some tense matches in a narrow defeat to the Isle of Man team.

The Under-14 Boys A team of Oskar Cleal and Cameron Powell defeated Jersey B 4-1 and then followed that up with a win over Isle of Man to finish in a credible 9th place out of the 12 teams.  The four players in the Under-14 Girls teams had all recently played in the Primary Schools International and used the experience well to develop their sharpness and general match play against their more experienced opponents.

With the team matches concluding on Saturday evening, Sunday was time for the individual events. Shelby Timms was the pick of the Sarnians as she progressed through her group with a notable win against Ireland’s Lily Smith and took a set off eventual runner-up Bethany Ellis from England in the quarter final, but ultimately went down 3-1.

In the under-14 Boys event, Cameron Powell played well to reach the semi-final of the plate competition, narrowly losing out to Jersey's Jack Le Blond, while in the Under-18s, Ben Sharp also had an unlucky draw and went out in the first round 11-13, 12-10, 2-11, 11-7, 5-11 against eventual winner, Charlie McGowan of Scotland.

Guernsey teams:

Under 18 Boys: Ben Sharp, Connor Powell

Under 18 Girls: Shelby Timms, Tia Timms

Under 16 Boys: Seb Jennings, Xavier Ingrouille

Under 14 Boys: Oskar Cleal, Cameron Powell, Ollie Sparks, Albie Lihou

Under 14 Girls: Emily Gavey, Charlotte Dicker, Ella Le Ber, Keira Eldridge

Summer League

Summer League started on Wednesday 1st June and runs until August, entry is free for GTTA members and £5 for non-members, just turn up and sign in by 19:20 on the night to take part.

Full reports and results are available on the Summer League page

Inter Insulars

U11 Open -  Guernsey 7, Jersey 3 -  Guernsey win the Dean Trophy

U13 Open - Guernsey 7, Jersey 3 -  Guernsey win the Le Masurier Trophy

U15 Open -  Guernsey 2, Jersey 8 -  Jersey win the Continental Trophy

U18 Women - Guernsey 3, Jersey  7 - Jersey win the Rosemary Trophy

U18 Men - Guernsey 6, Jersey 4 -  Guernsey win the Linscott Trophy

U21 Open -  Guernsey  5, Jersey 5  - Guernsey retain the Britannic Trophy

Veterans (Over 40s) -  Guernsey 2, Jersey 8 -  Jersey win the Veterans Trophy

Over 50s - Guernsey 5, Jersey 5 - Guernsey retain the Lombard Trophy

Over 60s - Guernsey 10, Jersey 0 -  Guernsey win the past Masters Trophy

Women's -  Guernsey 6, Jersey 4 -  Guernsey win the Margaret Trophy

Men's -  Guernsey 8, Jersey 2 -  Guernsey win the Green Trophy

Overall Aggregate -  Guernsey 61, Jersey 49   -  Guernsey win the Aggregate Trophy

Full Results

Saturday was a new day with additional players from both Islands ready to make their mark across the 11 traditional Inter-Insular team matches.

Action was hotly contested as expected and the 6 morning matches incredibly resulted in the overall aggregate score tied at 30-30.

Guernsey’s success and main contributor to the tally came in the Over 60’s Open Singles where the team of Mark Pipet, Kay Chivers and Chas Elliott whitewashed the Jersey team of Paul Routier, Tony Wood and Bougeard 10-0. The closest match of the encounter came during Elliot’s 5 set win over Wood however this was the final match and he easily won the 5th end 11-3.

From the oldest end of the scale to the youngest, the Sarnian Under 11 team did the Island proud in the morning session with a comfortable 7-3 win. Aiden Ozanne, Luke Evans and Alex Hutchinson had all competed in the recent British Primary Schools competition hosted by Guernsey and they were all strong winners over Oliver Cornthwaite and Harry Glyn in singles action. Reserve Indy Tostevin also contributed well when he teamed with Ozanne to defeat Glyn and Oskar Karwowski in 5 sets. CI champ Karwowski proved one step too far for the youngsters, however he was pushed to 4 sets by both Ozanne and Hutchinson.

The Under 21 Open was the final event which saw success for Guernsey in the morning. Despite the match being drawn 5-5, Guernsey retained the trophy by virtue of holding it. Ben Foss was extremely sharp in this encounter ahead of the Green Trophy in the evening and he romped to straight sets singles wins over Pierre, Alfie Sutherland and John Le Fondre, the former a preview of the Green Trophy match in the evening. Ben Sharp had missed the Island Championships due to being on holiday, but he showed little signs of rust during an excellent 4 set win over Le Fondre, whilst he also teamed very well with Foss as the duo comfortably beat regular doubles pairing of Pierre and Sutherland in 4 sets. Despite a number of tough 4 set matches, Sharp nor Matt Casey were able to get the 6th rubber on the board to emerge as outright winners.

A 7-3 defeat came in the Under 18 Women’s team event and this was expectedly spearheaded by sisters Hannah and Kathryn Silcock who each defeated Shelby Timms, Erin Vaudin and Tia Timms. Shelby came close against Kathryn however and was only just ousted in 5 sets. The Silcock sisters finished proceedings by beating Shelby and Erin in straight sets in the doubles match. All of the Guernsey players earned consolation wins over Esther Lewis.

A crushing 8-2 defeat came in the Under 15 Open to a Jersey team of Kevan Morreira, Alex Fernandes and Jack Le Blond. Oskar Cleal was the sole winner on the day as he beat Fernandes in straight sets and Le Blond in 4 sets. The outcome of the match could however have been a lot closer as both Cameron Powell and Seb Jennings were each narrowly defeated by Le Blond in 5 sets, whilst Cleal also lost a close 4 setter to Morreira.

The inclusion of Frankowski and Cieminski into the Over 40’s team for the first time proved decisive as it saw the extremely strong Jersey team win 8-2. It is likely the first time in history that 2 members of the Over 40’s Open Singles team are also in the Green Trophy team at the same event. Despite the best efforts of the Guernsey team of Phil Ogier, Jez Powell and debutant Steve Ozanne, none could get the better of them. Ogier did his best to avenge his prior night defeat to Frankowski but lost a close 5 setter, whilst the Polish duo also won the doubles rubber over Ogier and reserve Andy Gill in 4 sets. The successes came against Ellis as Ogier won comfortably in straight sets and Powell made up for his prior night defeat and won 11-9 in the deciding 5th end.

The afternoon continued to follow suit for the first half as neither Island was ever more than 2 ahead. Jersey were actually leading for the majority of the first half and their last real lead was at 42-40. It was at this point where a strong run of games saw the tide turn and Guernsey proceeded to win 10 of the next 11 matches to open a comfortable 50-43 lead. The score heading into the Green was 53-47 meaning just 2 rubbers were needed in the evening clash to retain the aggregate trophy and 3 to outright win it.

The reason for the success on the aggregate board was because the Guernsey teams were unbeaten across the 4 contests with victories in 3 of them.

The pick of the wins came in the Under 13 Open as Oskar Cleal, Cameron Powell and Barnaby Groves won 7-3 over CI U13 champion William Cornthwaite, Callum Allaway and Theo De Peork. Cleal and Powell were both in super form and each went unbeaten, with them each beating Cornthwaite in 5 sets. They also teamed to win the close doubles match against Cornthwaite and De Peork in 5 sets. The result could have been even stronger however Groves unfortunately just fell short against De Peork despite a strong performance. He lost 3-2 despite having made a strong start in which he led 2-1 and took the third 11-2.

A narrow 6-4 win was obtained in the Under 18 Boy’s Singles as Ben Sharp, Caden Brouard and Connor Powell beat John Le Fondre, Kevan Morreira and Aditya Varaje. Sharp continued his strong form from the morning session by winning all of his matches. He beat Le Fondre in a tight 5 set tussle as well as Morreira and Varaje in straight sets. Brouard beat Morreira in 4 sets and Varaje in 5 sets in the opening game of the match, whilst Sharp and Brouard combined well to win the pivotal doubles match over Le Fondre and Varaje in 4 sets. Powell competed well but lost in well contested straight set matches to each of the Jersey players.

Jersey have not captured the Women’s Margaret Trophy this century, with their last win coming 23 years ago. Despite the star power of Hannah Silcock, they were unable to prevent the strong run from Guernsey, who made it the 19 consecutive triumph with a tight 6-4 win. Silcock indeed was responsible for 3 of the 4 Jersey rubbers as she cruised to straight sets wins over Kay Chivers, Chloe Le Tissier and Paula Le Ber. Sister Kathryn added a straight sets win over Le Ber, but the Guernsey players managed to sweep up the remaining 6 encounters. Chivers beat Kathryn in 4 sets, whilst Le Tissier battled back excellently from 2-1 down to win in 5 sets. All of the Guernsey players defeated Hilary Le Cornu in straight sets whilst Chivers and Le Tissier teamed well to win the doubles over Kathryn and Le Cornu in straight sets to secure the overall triumph.

The final match of the afternoon session was the Over 50’s Open Singles and a 5-5 draw resulted in Guernsey retaining the trophy. Jez Powell led the way strongly with a 4 set win over Ian Lambert and straight sets win over Martin Tupper, but he was ousted in 5 sets by Ellis, despite having led 2-1. Andy Gill beat Tupper in 5 sets on top of teaming with Powell to earn a super 4 set doubles win over Ellis and Lambert. Andy Ferbrache was making his debut in the Inter-Insulars in this category and he competed very well. He was unlucky to lose his opener against Lambert in 5 tight sets, despite leading 2-0 and he accounted well for himself against Ellis by taking a set and losing narrowly in 4. He however kept his nerves excellently in the final rubber of the match. With the side 5-4 down and having comfortably lost the opening set 11-2, he dug deep and took the final 3 ends 12-10, 11-6, 11-9 to secure the draw and the final point going into the Green Trophy.

Green Trophy

The Guernsey side to compete was identical to when the trophy was last contested in 2019 following a few COVID interrupted years of CI and Inter-Insular action. This side was of course twins Josh and Lawrence Stacey and Ben Foss. The outcome in 2019 had been a close 6-4 win for a Jersey side that had included one of their star players now living off Island, Luc Miller. That was Jersey’s first triumph for 4 years, with Guernsey having won it the prior 3. Jersey’s team still looked fairly strong on paper as Gregorz Frankowski and Mariusz Cieminski had looked in good form during the earlier CI Finals and also the Over 40’s team event in the morning, with Leon Pierre also in good form.

Largely favourable results were however obtained by the Guernsey trio against the Jersey trio at the Channel Islands Open Top 12 competition in Jersey just 3 months reserved which was a good sign ahead of the crunch clash.

Lawrence had won the entire competition and team captain and multiple time Green Trophy competitor Phil Ogier put him up first. His match against Cieminski was as expected a fairly cagey affair, but Stacey was ahead in all 3 sets and never looked back. He played some explosive shots, particularly off the backhand wing at key moments and came through 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.

Foss was up next against debutant Pierre and nerves were inevitable. Foss was not at his best but he ran out a more than comfortable straight sets winner, with Pierre unable to obtain more than 8 points in any of the ends contested.

Josh was up next against Frankowski and a high quality affair had seen the Jersey star leading 2-1 before an unplayable Stacey cruised through the 4th 11-3 with some excellent shots. The deciding end was hard fought and saw it tied at 8-8 when a timeout was taken by Josh. Frankowksi came back to the table sharper and managed to win the next 3 points and crucially get his side on the board.

The next match proved to be decisive in the context of not just the match, but also the Aggregate trophy. Foss was up against Cieminski and lost the opener 11-8. He looked in complete the control of the next end by taking in 11-4, but a slow start in the 3rd meant that Cieminski looked to be heading into a lead, whilst comfortably up 8-4. Foss stayed strong and fought for every point before sealing it 12-10 but in the next end again was heavily behind, this time 8-2. But fresh from his impressive fightback in the prior end, he went even better this time around and battled back from the brink to amazingly come through 13-11 much to the delight of all Guernsey supporters in attendance at the GTTA centre.

Lawrence was next up against Frankowski who again looked in good form in the encounter and led 2-1 following him edging the 3rd 13-11. Stacey however showed super mettle and ended up comfortably winning the next 2 ends 11-3, 11-6 to put Guernsey into an unassailable advantage in the Aggregate.

A repeat of the Men’s Doubles CI Finals was then reversed by Josh and Lawrence as they won a gritty match against Frankowski and Cieminski 12-10, 11-9, 14-12.

Josh got his evening on the mark by beating Pierre in 4 sets to also make sure that the ‘Green’ Trophy was coming back to the Island due to the 6-1 lead.

Frankowski finished his evening strongly by beating Foss in 4 sets before Josh was embroiled in a classic with Cieminski. Cieminski looked to be in a strong position when leading 2-1 however Stacey had other ideas and edged a tight 4th 11-9. Cieminski held 2 match points in the decider and they were both saved due to incredible shots from Josh. At 9-10 down he played a cute backhand chop-block across the angle of the table from a Cieminski forehand tospin, but saved his best shot for 10-11 when he played an expertly timed forehand counter-top spin drive winner following a strong forehand top-spin third ball attack from Cieminski. The match was concluded during Stacey’s 2nd match point at 13-12 when Cieminski placed a backhand push wide of the table.

Lawrence finished his man of the match performance in the final match of the evening when he beat Pierre in straight sets, however Pierre played some of his best table tennis of the night in this match and was unfortunate to run into an in-form Stacey.

The final result being an 8-2 win for Guernsey which capped off a memorable day of action for the Guernsey Table Tennis Association.

Channel Island Championships

It was a disappointing evening for the Sarnian table tennis contingent during Friday evening’s individual Channel Island Championships finals, which were emphatically clinched 17 to 3 by rivals Jersey. Despite the unfavourable outcomes, it did include one of the most one sided Men’s Singles CI wins of all time in the favour of now 8 time CI Men’s Singles champion Garry Dodd and the Guernsey players then proceeded to produce a golden Saturday of table tennis, not only clinching the Aggregate trophy by a comfortable 61-49 outcome, but also a decisive 8-2 victory in the blue riband Green trophy encounter. This, added to the fact that Guernsey won or retained 8 of the 11 inter-insular trophies ensured that by large it was a very successful weekend of inter-island action, the first in 3 years, for the Greens.

Dodd’s return to the Island for the Championships had been clinical following his prior success in the Island Championships yet his performance against Jersey champion Marisuz Cieminski was at another level once more as he mercilessly crushed his formidable opponent in straight sets for the loss of just 16 points. The tone was set in the opening end in which he decimated his tricky opponent 11-3. There was no let-up from the leading player in the CI as he continued to dominate proceedings with effective serving and strong attacking topspin shots off both the forehand and backhand wings with a few particularly off the backhand side drawing glances of amazement from the healthy number of players and spectators in attendance at the GTTA centre. The final end saw a minor rally from the Jersey champion, with minor indeed being the key word in the context of the encounter. He had been at 5-5 during the early stages following an impressive counter-top spin drive off a Dodd forehand topspin stroke before the CI champ turned on the afterburners and cruised to victory 11-6. The shot of the night and possibly the best shot ever played at the centre came at 9-5 when a swivel backhand top-spin stroke from near the floor and from the back of the court was whipped back across the table past Cieminski, one for the highlight reel that is without doubt. The encounter was then finished with a super backhand topspin cross table off a third ball attack.

Dodd came very close to having a perfect evening of finals contested personally but just fell short alongside Carly Tucknott in the Mixed Doubles final against young Jersey stars Hannah Silcock and Leon Pierre. The Guernsey pair had fought hard in the match and managed to open up healthy 7-2 and 9-4 leads in the deciding 7th end. This was however clawed back magnificently by the Caesarean duo as they restored parity at 9-9 and then led 10-9. They were unable to secure their first match point, however an unfortunate fault serve from Tucknott at 11-12, who had performed very well during the match, sealed the marathon win for Silcock and Pierre.

It had been an ominous start to affairs as Jersey clinched the honours in all 4 of the opening session of matches. The nature of the first 3 defeats were also heavy with Oskar Karwowski, Hannah Silcock and Leon Pierre all getting the better of Aiden Ozanne, Shelby Timms and Caden Brouard in straight sets in the Under 11 Open, Under 18 Girls and Under 18 Boys finals respectively. There was one closely contested final in the round and it saw a tight tussle in the Over 60’s between long-time rivals Mark Pipet and Eugene ‘Yogi’ Ellis. Pipet had missed chances to take a 2-1 lead after being up in the third but managed to battle back to force a deciding 7th end. Ellis’s tricky attacking game in the end proved too much for Pipet as he closed out the final end 11-8.

The second round of matches also all went in favour of the visitors, but once more there was an exceptionally closely contested one in the mix. This particular encounter was in the Under 13 Open Singles and saw Oskar Cleal agonisingly defeated 12-10 in the 7th by William Cornthwaite despite leading 8-6 and holding a match point at 10-9. Dan Collenette battled hard against Pierre in the Under 21 Open Singles final and went down 4-1 in a match which was closer than the scores suggest. Green Trophy player Gregorz Frankowski also showed his quality against Phil Ogier in the Over 40’s Open Singles in a straight sets win, with Ogier left to rue not securing the opening end in which he led throughout the majority. The final win of the round came from Silcock, competing in her second of 6 finals of the evening, alongside sister Kathryn as they beat Kay Chivers and Marli Barker 4-1 in the Women’s Doubles.

It looked like a Sarnian win would finally be on the cards in the following matches, however once more Jersey sneaked through one of the encounters and had another clean sweep. Jez Powell looked to be cruising to victory in the Over 50’s Open Singles at the first time of asking against Ellis when decisively opening a 3 game advantage, however Ellis will never give up and he battled back well to come through over the full 7 sets. A key set was the 5th which Ellis came back from 9-5 down to edge 12-10, a key net coming to his aid at 7-9. Another cruel net off a service return came with Powell 8-7 down in the deciding end which was eventually won 11-9. Another close match during the round was the Men’s Doubles clash between a Green trophy quartet of twins Joshua and Lawrence Stacey against Cieminski and Frankowski. It was a hard fought encounter which went back and forth but resulted in a 6 set win for the Jersey players. The other 2 finals in this round were secured by Silcock over Charlotte Dicker in Under 15 Girls Singles final and John Le Fondre over Seb Jennings in the Under 15 Boys Singles final, each in straight sets.

It was fitting that one of Guernsey’s first wins of the weekend would come from the GTTA president Derek Webb. Webb was utterly dominant during his Over 70’s Open Singles clash against former Jersey star Frank Bougeard, who himself is a former 10 time CI Men’s Singles champion, and won in straight sets. Kay Chivers was equally comfortable during her straight sets win over Irene Billet-Masters in the final of the Women’s Veterans Singles. Paul Hainsworth failed to retain his CI Restricted title as he was beaten soundly in straight sets by Jersey’s Green Trophy reserve Rafal Jedrasik, whilst Caden Brouard and Jayden Tucknott lost in straight sets to Pierre and Silcock in the Under 18 Open Doubles final.

The penultimate session of the night had seen Dodd’s amazing triumph over Cieminski but also saw the other showpiece singles event of the night between Chloe Le Tissier and Silcock in the Women’s Singles. Silcock is competing regularly across the UK and World and her extra quality was evident in this encounter. Le Tissier however put up an excellent account for herself and came close to taking the 2nd end but narrowly missed out 11-9. Ultimately Silcock was too strong and won in straight sets.

The final round of the night saw the Mixed Doubles success for Silcock and Pierre as noted earlier and also another doubles win for Cieminski and Frankowski. They added to their Men’s Doubles triumph earlier in the evening by dispatching Ogier and Powell 4-1 in the Veteran’s Open Doubles final.

Results

Island Championships Updates

Results (Fri & Sat evening)

Results (Sat & Sun Daytime)

Results (Sun & Mon)

Action from the season ending Island Championships commenced on Friday evening and has seen 18 of the 20 events played through until the final over a busy weekend of action. The final 2 events (Men's and Women's Doubles) will be contested on Monday evening before the finals for all events take place on Island Championships finals night on Wednesday evening.

Over 60's Open Singles

Top seed and defending champion Mark Pipet and second seed Kay Chivers were the first Island finalists after each navigated their way through on Friday evening. Pipet defeated 4th seed Andy Ferbrache in 5 sets in the first semi final, whilst Chivers was a comfortable straight sets winner over Maurice James in the other.

Restricted Open Singles

Defending champion and top seeded Paul Hainsworth will face off against 2nd seed Ryan Bichard in the final. Hainsworth came through against left-handed 4th seed Ryan Gilson in straight sets, whilst Bichard, competing in the event for the first time, overcame Sam Clark in 6 well contested sets.

Under 21 Open Singles

The withdrawal of top seeded defending champion Ben Foss opened up the top half of the draw where 4th seeded Caden Brouard reached the final. He will contest the final against 3rd seed Dan Collenette. Brouard was a comfortable 5 set winner over James Crocker, whilst Collenette upset the odds to battle past 2nd seed Matt Casey in 6 sets.

Over 50's Open Singles

Second seed Mark Pipet continued where he left off the prior evening as he became the first finalist of the events played on Saturday morning. He defeated third seed Andy Gill in straight sets in the semi final and will play top seeded debutante Jez Powell, who defeated 4th seed Chas Elliott in straight sets to expectedly reach the final at the first time of asking.

Under 11 Open Singles

The 5th event of the Island Championships proved to be the one which threw up the first surprise results of weekend, a trend that continued into some of the later Junior events to follow. 4th seed Indy Tostevin was the catalyst for this chain of events as he defeated top seed Alex Hutchinson in straight sets in the first semi final. He will play against second seed Aiden Ozanne after his marathon 7 set win over 3rd seed Luke Evans.

Under 13 Open Singles

6th seed Albie Lihou proved the surprise package in this event as he overcame higher ranked players in both the Quarter and Semi finals to impressively reach the final. In the Quarters he defeated 4th seed Hutchinson in 5 sets before earning himself an excellent 7 set win over 2nd seed Cameron Powell, coming back from 3-1 down in the process. He will meet top seed Oskar Cleal in the final after he beat 5th seed Aiden Ozanne in straight sets.

Over 70's Open Singles

Top seed Chas Elliott will meet 2nd seeded GTTA President Derek Webb in the final. Elliott dispatched 3rd seed Terry Trustum in 6 sets, whilst Webb defeated surprise unseeded semi finalist Steve Martin in straight sets. Martin had earlier shocked 4th seed Keith Opie in straight sets.

Under 15 Boys Singles

Unseeded Albie Lihou did it again following his efforts in the Under 13 Open Singles earlier in the morning as he shocked seeded players to reach the final. He beat 4th seed Alex Hutchinson in 5 sets in the Quarter Finals before edging out a titanic semi final over top seed Cleal in what was a real surprise result in which he won over 6 sets. He will face 2nd seed Seb Jennings in the final after his epic 7 set semi final win over Evans, 12-10 the score in the decisive 7th end.

Under 15 Girls Singles

Top seed Emily Gavey will play against second seed Charlotte Dicker in the final. Gavey beat Keira Eldridge 4-1 in the first semi final whilst Dicker had an extremely tough test against Lily Regan and needed to battle back from 3-1 down to edge it in 7 sets.

Men's Singles

The first of the blue riband singles events went as expected with the top 2 seeds expectedly making their way to the final in the form of the returning Garry Dodd and Division 1 averages winner Phil Ogier

The event progressed largely as expected during the early stages, however a notable result in the opening round was Sam Clark's straight sets win over 8th seed Ryan Gilson and Steve Ozanne's straight sets win over fellow 1st Division player Andy Gill. Another tough tussle saw Dan Collenette battle back from 3-1 down to get past Nye Matthew in a high quality match.  Ozanne's run came to an end in the second round against 6th seed Paul Hainsworth, although it was a well contested match which was eventually concluded in 6 sets.

The best of the Quarter final clashes came between twins Lawrence and Josh Stacey, with the former 3rd seeded player winning over 6 sets.

The first semi final was dominated by Dodd, who dispatched Hainsworth comfortably with positive attacking table tennis - reaching the final without dropping a set in the process. Ogier's semi final with Stacey on the other hand was a well contested match which went the way of Ogier in 5 sets following Stacey taking the opener. Each end was closely contested but Ogier had too much on the night for his younger opponent.

Women's Singles

The Women's Singles was superbly contested and saw closely contested matches throughout. This started with 4th seed Charlotte Casey's 7 set win over rapidly improving junior Shelby Timms in a first round match. Casey continued her heroic efforts in the quarter finals when she came back from 3-1 down against Juliette Yeaman to win in 7 sets once more.

The surprise result of the event however came in another the Quarter final matches as it saw GTTA Development Office Becks O'Keefe susprise top seed Kay Chivers in 7 sets. O'Keefe had led 3-1 before Chivers battled back to force a deciding set. The decider was close until 5-5 when O'Keefe put together a strong run of points which eventually saw her through 11-7.

The 2 semi finals were almost identical in their close nature and the events in the final 7th sets. O'Keefe looked like her run would come to an end against Casey, who led 3-2, however a 7th set was forced after a comfortable 6th end. Casey once more looked in control in the decider when leading 4-0 and then 5-2 at the change of ends, however O'Keefe continued to claw back the deficit and reached parity for the first time at 9-9. A cagey affair was the order of the day in the following point before O'Keefe finished it with a strong forehand drive and she made no mistake in the next point to seal her berth in the final.

On an adjacent table 3rd seed Paula Le Ber looked to be in control over 2nd seed Chloe Le Tissier when leading 3-1. Le Tissier comfortably won the next 2 ends for the loss of just 10 points before Le Ber opened up a commanding 4-0 lead in the decider, just like Casey had done in the other semi final. In identical fashion to the other match, Le Tissier clawed back the deficit impressively and surged through to take it 11-8.

Over 40's Open Singles

Top seed Phil Ogier will play second seed Jez Powell in the final. Ogier was a comfortable straight sets winner over 4th seed Mark Pipet in the first semi final, whilst Powell likewise won in straight sets over 3rd seed Andy Gill in the other.

Under 18 Women's Singles

Top seed Shelby Timms will play against second seed Erin Vaudin in the final. Timms beat sister Tia in straight sets in the first semi final, whilst Vaudin defeated Under 15 Girls finalist Emily Gavey in straight sets in the other.

Under 18 Men's Singles

Top seed Caden Brouard will play against second seed Jayden Tucknott in the final. Brouard beat 4th seed Connor Powell in straight sets whilst Tucknott withstood a 3-0 lead fightback from 3rd seed James Crocker to eventually seal it 11-9 in the 7th end.

Women's Veteran Singles

There will be a repeat of the Women's Singles quarter final as top seed Kay Chivers will face off against 2nd seed Becks O'Keefe. Chivers beat Juliette Yeaman in 5 sets in the first semi final, whilst O'Keefe won by the same margin against Kershaw in the other.

Veterans Open Doubles

The top seeded pairing of Phil Ogier and Jez Powell will play against the unseeded combination of Andy Gill and Ian Le Page in the final. Ogier and Powell were untroubled throughout and this culminated with a straight sets win over 3rd seeds Derek Webb and Andre Bichard in straight sets. Gill and Le Page on the other hand earned themselves a stellar straight sets win over 2nd seeds Kay Chivers and Keith Opie in the Quarter Finals before a more workmanlike 6 sets win over 4th seeds Chas Elliott and Maurice James in the semi finals.

Under 18 Open Doubles

Top seeds Caden Brouard and Jayden Tucknott will play against second seeds Erin Vaudin and James Crocker in the final. Brouard and Tucknott dispatched sisters Shelby and Tia Timms in 5 sets whilst Vaudin and Crocker beat Aiden Ozanne and Barnaby Groves in 6 sets in the other semi.

Mixed Doubles

There were a lot of close matches in this event which resulted in 3rd seeds Garry Dodd and Carly Tucknott reaching the final alongside 4th seeds Lawrence Stacey and Juliette Yeaman.  The pick of the opening round of matches saw 2nd seeds Liam Robilliard and Chloe Le Tissier edge past Andy Gill and Paula Le Ber in 7 sets, having trailled 3-1. It also saw the exit of top seeds Phil Ogier and Sam Kershaw who were defeated in 6 sets by Josh Stacey and Erin Vaudin.

Robilliard and Le Tissier had a role reversal in the Quarter Finals as they let a 3-1 lead slip against Jez Powell and Marli Barker and exited the competition in 7 sets.

Dodd and Tucknott came through the first semi final over Stacey and Vaudin over 6 tightly contested sets, whilst the other semi final was a classic.

It saw Powell and Barker win the first 3 ends all by the delicate scores of 11-9 before Stacey and Yeaman pulled off the ultimate comeback winning the remaining 4 ends 11-4, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 to book their spot in the final.

Men’s Doubles

The Men’s Doubles followed a similar theme to the Mixed Doubles event which was contested just 1 day prior with a number of surprise results and close matches throughout.  Top seeded twins Joshua and Lawrence Stacey will compete against 3rd seeds Phil Ogier and Jez Powell in the final, however this was not without tricky runs to the final.

The surprise of the tournament came in a particularly brutal opening round clash between 2nd seeds Ben Foss and Ryan Bichard and the unseeded combination of Paul Hainsworth and Liam Robilliard. Such was the quality of this opener that it had been the semi final in the prior 2 Island Championship events. Foss and Bichard had comfortably won those prior encounters and despite dropping the opener 11-8, looked to be cruising to victory after pinching a tight second 12-10 and then dominating the third and 4th ends for the loss of just 10 points. Hainsworth and Robilliard rallied superbly however and managed to impressively take the final 3 ends 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 and secure the upset victory.

The semi-finals took place on adjacent tables and each were lengthy battles in their own right. The Stacey twins were the first to reach the final after they ousted 4th seeded left-handers Garry Dodd and Andy Gill in 6 hard fought sets.

The battle in the other semi final was even tougher and included the most spectacular end of all events thus far. Hainsworth and Robilliard had continued their strong form to overturn a 2-1 deficit to lead Ogier and Powell 3-2 before the 3rd seeds crucially edged a tight 6th 13-11 to force a deciding end. The early stages were tight until 3-3 before the number 3 seeds surged into an emphatic 10-4 lead with 6 match points. A few nerves and fault serves incredibly allowed Hainsworth and Robilliard to restore parity at 10-10 and then open a match point of their own at 11-10 courtesy of a 7th consecutive point. A long rally ensued at this time and some excellent retrieved shots of aggressive top-spin strokes forced an error from the unseeded duo and Ogier and Powell successfully navigated 2 further lengthy rallies to seal the decisive 7th end 13-11 and complete a marathon 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 13-11, 13-11 victory.

Women’s Doubles

Top seeds Kay Chivers and Marli Barker will compete against 4th seeds Becks O’Keefe and Juliette Yeaman in the final.  Chivers and Barker came through against 3rd seeds Charlotte Casey and Sam Kershaw in 5 sets, whilst O’Keefe and Yeaman did very well to over-turn a 3-1 deficit to 2nd seeds Chloe Le Tissier and Shelby Timms in 7 sets.

Junior Group Tournament

The Junior Group is tournament that was recently revived by the GTTA to give younger players more exposure to competitive table tennis, such as next week’s Primary Schools International.  Indeed, the majority of the Guernsey under-12 team were playing in this year’s tournament which showcased the current strength in depth at this level

After a group stage with many close and exciting matches, it was hard to predict a winner, and many of the matches went the full 3-game distance.  Second seed Barnaby Groves was impressive in his narrow defeat of the improving Alex Hutchinson in the quarter final, 11-9 in the deciding end, but his run was ended in the next round by Aiden Ozanne.  In the other semi-final, Luke Evans did well to come back from losing the first game to beat Albie Lihou 4-11, 12-10, 11-9.

The final was between 2 players both only 9 years old and was played to the very highest standard with both exhibiting some fine attacking table tennis.  Every time one seemed to find an edge the other would respond and both deserve credit for keeping a calm head and persevering with positive shots throughout.  The first 2 games went to deuce, while in the deciding end it was Ozanne who took the early initiative to edge a few points clear. However Evans was able to dig in and play some exceptional rallies, with fast attacking shots on both flanks and ultimately pipped his opponent 12-10, 10-12, 11-9.

Daniel Martin claimed the plate event with a 2-0 win over Leonardo Guariento.

The presentations for the Junior League were also made, where Albie Lihou was announced as champion for the 2021/22 season, narrowly finishing ahead of 3 players ties for runner-up, Keira Eldridge, James Merrien and Barnaby Groves.

Results