Island Championships

Leading Island players Garry Dodd and Alice Edwards dominated proceedings at the annual Island Championships final night, sweeping up all available titles.

 Dodd controlled proceedings during all 3 of his finals and came away with the loss of just 2 sets across the 14 contested. This was finished off in the blue riband Men’s Singles event where he claimed his impressive 11th title, moving him to within just 5 of the record holder, Bert Brenton. His opponent in the final was the rapidly improving second seed Ben Foss, who fought valiantly in defeat. He managed to stay with Dodd during the early stages of the encounter, which is not an easy thing to do and he became the first player to take a set off him in Island or CI Men’s Singles action in 2 seasons. This was achieved in the second end of the encounter which he claimed surprisingly comfortably 11-5. The third end was also closely fought for the early and middle stages, however Dodd, who is ranked in and around the top 15 in England for Senior Men, managed to keep himself composed as he finished off the set 11-9 with a clever serve which deceived his younger opponent. Foss continued to battle despite trailing, however Dodd simply had too much firepower and he took the next 2 ends 11-6, 11-7 to retain his title.

The Men’s Doubles saw him team with Joshua Butler in an event which they had already won together 3 times previously. The pair that has last won the title together in 2017 were always on top against top seeded twins Lawrence and Joshua Stacey and it felt like the opening set was decisive. Dodd and Butler came out on top 14-12 and from there cruised through the next 2 ends. The 4th was another tight one which could have gone either way, however again Dodd and Butler played the big points well to seal it 14-12. This victory made it title number 10 for Dodd in an event where has won the title with 5 different partners.

The Mixed Doubles saw the strong pairing of Dodd and Edwards in action and they romped to a 4-1 win over Joshua Stacey and Dawn Morgan. Stacey and Morgan did well to prevent the inevitable when winning the 4th end 11-7, however the champions raised their level in the next set to close it out 11-6. This result was the first time that the duo had won the title together, however it was also title number 5 in this event for each of them.

Edwards' other events were also extremely fruitful as she mopped up a further 3 titles on the night. This was headlined by her clash with 17-time Women’s Singles Champion Kay Chivers. Edwards herself was a 7-time champion heading into the match and she made no mistakes with a classy straight sets win.

The Women’s Doubles was another fairly comfortable affair as she combined with rising star Shelby Timms to overcome the duo that have won 10 titles together in this event, Morgan and Chivers. Edwards and Timms led throughout and despite dropping the 4th set, won in 5 sets. Edwards final title came in the Restricted Singles. She was a comfortable straight sets winner over Ryan Bichard as she never let last year’s beaten finalist into the contest.

 Across the other events, Phil Ogier, Ben Sharp and Aiden Ozanne were multiple winners. 

Ogier has been the dominant force in the Over 40’s events and has won them every year since being able to enter them. The former leading Island player and 7-time Men’s Singles champions made it 10 consecutive titles in each event this time out. In the Singles he comfortably blew away surprise finalist Steve Ozanne for the loss of just 12 points, however he had a much tougher test in the Doubles.

 Alongside Jez Powell they have been an unbeatable combination in this event, however they were tested by debuting pair Jamie Ferbrache and Andy Gill in this event. Ferbrache and Gill played some strong attacking table tennis throughout which enabled them to open up a 2-1 lead. The 4th set was crucial and it saw the defending champions edge through 13-11. With honors now even the experience and quality of Ogier and Powell shone through as they won the final 2 ends comfortably.

 Sharp is one of the leading junior players currently making his mark in the top flight of the Doric Insurance sponsored senior leagues and he came away with titles in both of the Under 18 Events. In the Singles he made no mistakes as he ruthlessly dispatched Jayden Tucknott in straight sets. In the Open Doubles he had a much tougher test alongside Connor Powell against Tucknott and James Crocker. The underdogs Tucknott and Powell competed very well and led 3-2. Sharp and Powell did not relent however and closed out the final 2 ends 11-9, 11-7.

Sharp came very close to making it 3 titles but fell in a close encounter to top seed and defending champion Dan Collenette in the Under 21 Open Singles final. Collenette led 2-0 before Sharp took the next 2 ends beyond the regulation 11 points. The 5th set could have gone either way, but it was the elder player who pinched it 15-13 before going on to close out the deciding end 11-7.

Ozanne was the youngest player to experience double success as he picked up the Under 11 and Under 13 Open Singles titles. In the Under 11 event he came through against the talented youngster Luke Evans in an entertaining 6 set encounter, whilst in the Under 13 event he upset the seedings to oust top seed Cameron Powell, also in another entertaining 6 set encounter. In this one he won the 6th end 14-12 to seal the title. He also contested a third final in the Under 15 Boys Singles, however Oskar Cleal was one step too far and the in-form Cleal won in 5 sets.

Timms followed up on her prior success in the Women’s Doubles to pick up her second title on the night with a comfortable straight sets win over Hollie Jenkins in the Under 18 Women’s Singles, whilst unseeded Keira Eldridge did superbly to storm past seeded player Emily Gavey in the Under 15 Girls Singles in 5 sets.

Morgan is one of the most decorated players in terms of number of Island Championships won and she added another this year in the Women’s Veterans Singles. She bounced back very well from losing the opening end comfortably to long time adversary Chivers to win in 5 sets. She was close to making it 2 titles on the night, but she fell against an inspired Gill in the Over 50’s Open Singles. In a repeat of the 2019 final, the outcome was the same, albeit the match a lot closer contested. Gill picked up his 2nd title in this event when he battled back from 3-1 down to edge through over the full 7 sets.

Mark Pipet is another serial winner in the Island Championships and the 14-time Men’s Singles champion made it title number 6 in the Over 60’s Open Singles when he defeated Chivers in 5 well contested sets.  The final champion of the night was Keith Opie who picked up his second title in the Over 70’s Open Singles event. He defeated Maurice James comfortably in straight sets.

Primary Schools International

Inter Insular Selections

The following players have been selected for the 2023 Inter Insulars, which take place in Jersey on 1st May and include two new team events, the Restricted (21-40) and Over-70s. 

Mark Kilby Hard Bat

With action from the domestic Doric Insurance sponsored leagues concluded for 2022, there was just one event left to contest in the calendar year. The event in question was the prestigious Channel Islands Top 12 Qualification event, with the Island’s leading players all vying to get the chance to compete against Jersey’s top 6 players in January at the GTTA centre.  The prior staging of the event in January 2022 had been extremely fruitful for the Sarnians as the top 3 spots were claimed impressively on Jersey soil.

The line-up for the qualification event this year was another strong one as it included Alice Edwards, who has returned to competitive action this season, as well as the majority of other leading Island players who compete for the Guernsey sides in the British National Leagues. The notable absences however were Phil Ogier who has been struggling with injury and more unexpectedly Joshua Stacey, who was ill and thus unable to compete at the last minute.

The late withdrawal of Stacey left just 9 players aiming to finish in the top 6 and in the end the 6 qualifiers were largely as expected with the exception of the 6th qualifier. That being said the final order of the qualifiers was outside of the expected outcomes with 4 players finishing higher than their ranking in advance of the event.

2nd ranked player Lawrence Stacey is the defending champion and he gave himself the best possible chance of retaining his crown after an assured evening of play. He joins Jersey star Leon Pierre with an unbeaten record heading into the crunch CI matches next month but was made to work hard in 2 of his 8 encounters. He was joined by Edwards, Paul Hainsworth, Ben Foss, Ryan Bichard and Daniel Collenette as qualifiers.

His toughest match came during his clash with Edwards, in his penultimate match of the night. Edwards looked in absolute cruise control after she emphatically won the opening 2 ends for the loss of just 6 points. Stacey showed superb battling abilities to produce an excellent comeback, winning the final 3 ends all by the narrow score of 11-9.

His other tough affair came a few rounds prior against Bichard, who is showing excellent form so far this season. They had fought out a similarly close encounter in the league a few weeks prior and once more Stacey came through the tight match and took the deciding end 11-7. His other wins were fairly comfortable and he only dropped individual sets to Foss, Collenette and Matt Casey on the way to his perfect record.

The battle for 2nd spot ended out being a three-way tie between the players ranked 1, 3 and 4 for the event, in the form of Foss, Edwards and Hainsworth. Each of these players beat each other which resulted in a countback needing to be done based on sets won in the clashes between each other.

Edwards finished 1 spot higher than her ranking in 2nd place due to her comfortable straight sets win over Hainsworth. She was however defeated by Foss in 5 sets, despite the Division 1 averages leader suffering a minor injury halfway through the final set of their encounter.

4th ranked Hainsworth finished 1 spot higher in 3rd and he picked up his best win of the season during his straight sets triumph over Foss. He navigated an exceptionally tight first set 18-16 before winning the other close games 11-7, 13-11. He was particularly sharp off the forehand wing with some strong attacking topspin strokes.

Bichard qualified 5th which was in line with his ranking. He was a comfortable straight sets winner over all players ranked below him except for Casey, whom he battled past in 5 sets in the final round of the night, in an encounter which he had trailed 2-1.

Collenette was the final qualifier and he defied his ranking of 8, although this was only on countback ahead of 7th ranked Casey. He fell to a surprise 3-2 defeat to Ben Sharp, who finished in 9th spot but defeated Jamie Ferbrache in 4 sets and more crucially came through a humdinger with Casey. Casey looked to be in control in that clash when leading 2-0 and 7-5, however Collenette battled strongly and won the final 3 ends 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 to complete a top-notch comeback.

Casey will also rue his opening round encounter with Hainsworth where he looked in utter control after winning the first set 11-4 and holding a surprise 8-0 lead in the 2nd set. Hainsworth somehow battled back to 8-8 and then saved 2 set points at 8-10 to come back and pinch the set. Casey did regain his lead at 2-1, but Hainsworth again dug in and edged it in 5.

Collenette too was in pole position against Hainsworth in the final round of the night after he edged the first 2 sets by matching 15-13 scores. Hainsworth however again stuck in and battled hard and came through the final 3 sets 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 to complete another escape.  Ferbrache played well during the evening despite finishing outside the top 6 and earned a straight sets win over Sharp.

Jersey’s top 6 qualifiers are Leon Pierre, Gregorz Frankowski, Eugene Ellis, Chris Morshead, Alfie Sutherland and Ian Lambert and the action will take place in Guernsey on Saturday 28th January 2023.

The players joining the seeds in the knockout stages was largely in line with expectations apart from 2 of the groups. 3rd Division player Juliette Yeaman beat fellow Ravenscroft Panthers 2nd Division player Peter Vivian in 5 sets in Group D, coming back from 2-1 down in the process before taking the deciding end 11-9.

Pierre Jehan caused the other upset as the Division 3 Panthers player did exceptionally well to upset 2nd Division junior Connor Powell in 5 sets, also coming back from 2-1 down to win 11-9 in the 5th.  As it transpired these two players drew each other in the first knockout round and it was Yeaman that kept her run going by outlasting Jehan in 5 sets, once more another match won by the player who trailed 2-1.  Dunning too kept his strong return going by ending the hopes of rising Division 2 junior player Shelby Timms in 4 sets.

The Last 16 stage threw up a few close matches and surprise results, however the top 4 seeds won fairly easily. Top seed Foss beat Marli Barker in straight sets, 3rd seed Joshua Stacey put an end to Yeaman’s strong run in straight sets, 4th seed Paul Hainsworth ended Dunning’s run in straight sets and eventual winner Lawrence had the toughest test of the quartet as he dropped the second end to 2nd Division player Chas Elliott before winning in 4 sets.

5th seed Liam Robilliard had a tough tussle with former Lions Division 1 team-mate Steve Ozanne, but managed to edge the deciding 5th set 15-13, with Ozanne having pinched the 4th by the exact same tight score to force the decider in the first place.   

6th seed Jez Powell was embroiled in an epic 5 set encounter with left hander Andy Gill but comfortably won the decider 11-4, whilst another all Division 1 clash saw 10th seed Joseph Bourgaize outlast 8th seeded southpaw Ryan Gilson 11-9 in the decider.

The final match in the round saw an upset as 11th seed and current Division 2 averages leader Nye Matthew get past Ferbrache in 4 sets. His run was ended in the Quarter Finals due to a ruthless performance from Foss who lost just 12 points during the impressive display.

Lawrence and Josh were equally dominant in their Quarters against Bourgaize and Robilliard respectively as each was won in straight sets. The final match in the Quarters was the only close one and it saw a hard fought 5 set encounter between Hainsworth and Powell. The pair had played just a few nights prior in Doric Insurance sponsored senior league action where Hainsworth had won the 5th and deciding end 11-9 and this encounter concluded in the precise same manner. Powell had however been largely in control during this match and had led 1-0 and 2-1 before Hainsworth battled back to take a comfortable 4th 11-5 before winning the 5th on his second match point.

The first semi-final between Foss and Josh Stacey was a largely one-sided affair as Foss once more was in good form and won in straight sets.  The other semi-final between Lawrence and Hainsworth looked to be going the same way when the champion edged a close second end 11-9, however Hainsworth fought well to take a comfortable 3rd end 11-5. Stacey raised his level from here and had too much in the 4th, taking it 11-7.

Foss seemed to be in the ascendancy and cruising towards his 3rd Whistlers Open Singles crown after winning the opening end 11-8 and leading 8-5 in the second, however the pivotal moment came here when Stacey managed to salvage the second 12-10. From here he looked the more composed player and took the final 2 ends 11-8, 11-5 to seal the title.

The next event of the calendar sees the annual visit from the Bat and Ball visiting team from the UK on Wednesday 16 November and Thursday 17 November where several the Island’s leading players are in action against some familiar long-time rivals.