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Post date: Apr 30, 2021 10:37:14 PM
The 2021 Island Championships were held between Friday 30th April and Monday 3rd May at the Guernsey Table Tennis Centre and are kindly sponsored by La Fraternelle.
As the Guernsey Table Tennis Association nears it’s historic Centenary year in 2022, the Island Championships for the 2020/21 season commenced on Friday evening at the GTTA centre at Hougue Du Pommier. In unprecedented times, this staging of the Championships is taking place just over 6 months after the COVID delayed Championships from the prior season which took place at the re-arranged dates of November 2020.
The schedule is unchanged from November, with events taking place at the same slots and with all finals being contested at the same time as the event. This differs from the traditional showpiece ‘Finals Night’ where finals from all events normally take place.
Monday Evening
Men’s Doubles
Top seeded twins Josh and Lawrence Stacey won their 3rd consecutive Men’s Doubles crown after emerging through a tight 7 set affair with 2nd seeds Ben Foss and Ryan Bichard. Foss and Bichard had been in the driving seat when leading 3-2 in sets and with a 6-4 points advantage, however the twins fought back strongly to take the 6th end 11-8 and the decider 11-6.
The twins had earlier battled through a similarly tough encounter against 3rd seeds Phil Ogier and Jez Powell in the other semi final where they came through as 11-9 victors in the 6th end of their clash. Foss and Bichard had dispatched 4th seeds Paul Hainsworth and Liam Robilliard in straight sets in the other semi final.
The victory for Josh meant that he completed his impressive trio of titles in all 3 available blue riband events – the Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
Women’s Doubles
Dawn Morgan and Kay Chivers won their 7th consecutive and 10th overall Women’s Doubles crown together after the top seeds defeated Charlotte Casey and Erin Vaudin in straight sets in the final. Morgan and Chivers had earlier defeated Becks O’Keefe and Juliette Yeaman in the first semi final, whilst Casey and Vaudin had played excellently to dispatch last year’s finalist and number 2 seeds Paula Le Ber and Shelby Timms over 5 sets.
Like Josh, Dawn too thus completed a clean sweep of the blue riband events, having teamed with him in the Mixed Doubles success.
Men's Doubles: Josh Stacey & Lawrence Stacey beat Ben Foss & Ryan Bichard
Women's Doubles: Dawn Morgan & Kay Chivers beat Charlotte Casey & Erin Vaudin
Sunday Afternoon
Mixed Doubles
The champions of the blue riband Men’s and Women’s Singles events lived up their top seeded billing in the Mixed Doubles and regained the title they last won in 2019. They overcame the winners from November, 2nd seeds Phil Ogier and Sam Kershaw in 5 sets in the final.
The champions had earlier also navigated past the runners-up from November, 3rd seeds Paul Hainsworth and Charlotte Casey, again over 5 well contested sets. Ogier and Kershaw on the other hand had a really tough route to the final which initially saw them battle past Martin Sarre and Paula Le Ber in 6 sets. Their semi-final encounter against 4th seeds Lawrence Stacey and Juliette Yeaman was even closer, but they managed to come through over the full 7 sets.
Stacey and Yeaman were also embroiled in a tough opening round match against Mark Pipet and Becks O’Keefe which they won over the full distance.
Under 18 Men's Singles: Ben Sharp beat Jonah Ingrouille 4-1
Under 18 Women's Singles: Erin Vaudin beat Shelby Timms 4-3
Under 18 Doubles: Ben Sharp & Caden Brouard beat Erin Vaudin & Max Burrows 4-0
Mixed Doubles: Josh Stacey & Dawn Morgan beat Phil Ogier & Sam Kershaw
Sunday Morning
Under 18 Women’s Singles
Erin Vaudin successfully defended the title that she first won in November after surviving an epic 7 set encounter with Shelby Timms in the final. Vaudin was always behind in the encounter as the match ebbed back and forth with Timms leading 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. Vaudin however took a tight 6th end 11-8 before blasting her way through the decider 11-4. Vaudin had earlier beaten Timms elder sister Tia in the semi finals in 5 sets despite having lost the opener, whilst Shelby beat Emily Gavey in straight sets on the other half of the draw.
Under 18 Men’s Singles
First Division player Ben Sharp won his first title in this category when he defeated unseeded Jonah Ingrouille in the final over 5 sets. Ingrouille delayed the victory when clinching the 4th end 11-6, but Sharp’s control of the encounter resumed in the 5th end which he won 11-6.
Sharp had been a comfortable straight sets winner over Jayden Tucknott in the first semi final, whilst Ingrouille had experienced a couple of extremely tight encounters to make it to the final. His Quarter Final clash with second seed Caden Brouard saw him near his best as he upset the formbook courtesy of a 6 set win, the final 2 ends being impressively claimed for the loss of just 8 points.His opponent in the semi finals was 3rd Division player Max Burrows, who had just unexpectedly beaten 2nd Division left-hander James Crocker for the second day in a row, this time in 5 sets. Ingrouille looked comfortable in the encounter when leading 3-0, but Burrows showed tremendous fighting spirit to edge the 4th 20-18, before the following 2 ends 11-9, 11-8. Ingrouille held his nerve well in the end and saw the brave challenge off 11-6 in the vital 7th end.
Under 18 Open Doubles
Number 1 seeds Ben Sharp and Caden Brouard successfully defended their title in the Under 18 Open Doubles by defeating the surprise combination of Erin Vaudin and Max Burrows in straight sets in the final. The champions closest match came in the semi final stages where they were pushed to 5 sets by sisters Shelby and Tia Timms.
Vaudin and Burrows on the other hand produced a surprise result by ousting second seeds Corey Brouard and James Crocker in 6 sets.
Veteran’s Open Singles
Phil Ogier’s complete dominance of this event continued as he picked up his 8th consecutive title due to victory over 4th seed Mark Pipet in the final. Ogier had earlier defeated 3rd seed and doubles team-mate Jez Powell in the semi finals, whilst Pipet had battled past 2nd seed Andy Gill in 6 sets in the other semi final encounter.
Women’s Veterans Singles
Dawn Morgan won her 11th title in this category after defeating long-time rival Kay Chivers 4-1 in the final.
The pair have won this title every year since 2001 and were tied at 10 titles apiece before this victory which has now seen Morgan move one ahead, following her 3rd consecutive triumph.
Veteran’s Open Doubles
The top seeded pairing of Phil Ogier and Jez Powell incredibly clinched their 8th successive title in this event, however they were pushed to the absolute limit by the second seeded combination of Dawn Morgan and Martin Sarre in the final. The 2nd seeds fought back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, however the successful duo of Ogier and Powell battled through the decisive 6th and 7th ends with matching scores of 11-9.
The closest match outside of the final saw Sarre and Morgan overcome Andy Gill and Ian Le Page over 6 sets in the quarter final stages. They further accounted for 3rd seeds Kay Chivers and Keith Opie in 5 sets in the semi finals, whilst Ogier and Powell defeated 4th seeds Mark Pipet and Craig Dunning in 5 sets on the other semi.
Veterans Singles: Phil Ogier beat Mark Pipet 4-0
Women's Veterans Singles: Dawn Morgan beat Kay Chivers 4-1
Veterans Doubles: Phil Ogier & Jez Powell beat Dawn Morgan and Martin Sarre 4-3
Saturday Evening
Men's Singles: Josh Stacey beat Phil Ogier
Women's Singles: Dawn Morgan beat Kay Chivers
Women’s Singles
Dawn Morgan continues to extend the record books and did so by virtue of winning an incredible 23rd Women’s Singles title. Her first win in this even came back in 1980 and she shows no signs of letting up, this victory being her 3rd consecutive title.
The final outcome however could have been very different as she was embroiled in a tight tussel with long time rival Kay Chivers, who has herself won a mighty 17 titles in this event. Chivers looked in firm control of the final whilst leading 3-1, however Morgan composed herself excellently to win the final 3 ends 11-5, 11-6, 11-5.
There were a few noteworthy matches during the earlier stages of the competition and none more so than 3rd Division player Carly Tucknott’s 7 set win over 4th Division player Shelby Timms. Timms had led 3-0 before former Island Games player Tucknott’s experience saw her take the final 4 ends 11-3, 13-11, 11-6, 12-10. She did not stop there with the tight matches as she stepped straight back onto court against 4th seeded Division 1 player Charlotte Casey in the next round. On this occasion it looked like she would prevail whilst herself holding a comfortable lead at 3-1 up, however Casey battled back to take the final 3 games 11-6, 11-6, 11-9.The surprise result of the event however was Juliette Yeaman’s 6 set win over 3rd seed Paula Le Ber in the Quarter finals. The Ravenscroft Panthers player played the big points well and edged 2 deuce games 13-11 and 17-15 on her way to victory.
Chivers had a tight quarter against recently returned GTTA Development officer Becks O’Keefe in 6 sets before putting a half to the great run of Yeaman in 5 sets. Morgan on the other hand was a comfortable straight sets winner over both Erin Vaudin and Casey.
Men’s Singles
Joshua Stacey may have only been seeded 5 for the event despite being the defending champion, but he played some exceptional table tennis to make sure he held onto his coveted crown on Saturday evening. It was to incredibly be a repeat of the Championships from November with the semi-final and final being the exact same line-up.
Stacey’s opponent in the final was thus 7 time former winner Phil Ogier and the pair shared a great encounter which saw a number of high quality points and shots. The first 4 sets were shared and it looked to be in the balance and this continued into the 5th and 6th sets. It was however Stacey who edged the big points and took them 11-9, 12-10. In particular a wicked backhand top-spin off the bounce from Ogier’s return when game point down at 9-10 in the 6th proved key to ensuring the match did not go the distance.
The semi-finals had also seen 2 lengthy clashes, with both finalists needing to be near their best to come through. Stacey was up against top seed Ben Foss, who was on paper the favourite for the title having not lost a singles match since the return to competitive action in March. The match was indeed back and forth as the players shared the first 6 ends, with Foss always leading. Stacey though saved his best for the latter parts of the encounter as he won the final 2 ends comfortably 11-3, 11-5.
Ogier on the other hand needed to overcome a slow start to get past 4th seed Paul Hainsworth in 6 sets. Hainsworth took the opening 2 games before Ogier restored parity at 2-2 following a crucial 12-10 score in the 4th. He then won the 5th 11-7 before saving game points in the epic 6th was finally edged 15-13. This encounter was similar to the final in that there were many long rallies which saw some top class retrievals and shots from both players, but in particular Ogier.
In an event of close matches, the Quarter finals also threw up some tasty affairs. Due to his unfortunate seeding of 5, Josh had to compete against 3rd seeded twin Lawrence in this stage. It looked to not be his night when trailing 2-0, but it was at this point where he started his impressive run to the title by winning 4 consecutive ends in style for the loss of just 20 points.
Hainsworth too had a close match in this stage, with 6th seed Ryan Bichard pushing him close before succumbing 11-7 in the 6th end. Foss beat 7th seed Matthew Casey in 5 sets, whilst Ogier defeated Andy Gill in straight sets in the final Quarter Final.
Gill had earlier upset the seedings by beating fellow left-hander and 8th seed Ryan Gilson in 5 sets, whilst the closest match of the event came in the opening round as Ben Foote edged past fellow Division 2 player Brian Ferbrache 11-2 in the 7th end of a clash he trailed 3-2 in.
Saturday Morning
The senior events to be contested during Saturday’s morning session followed a very similar pattern to Friday’s in that the victors matched the previous Championships in November. The surprising factor was that the finals were also contested between the exact same players.
It saw Dawn Morgan and Terry Trustum retain their titles in the Over 50’s Open Singles and Over 70’s Open Singles respectively.
Over 50’s Open Singles
Dawn Morgan and Andy Gill last competed against each other in the final of this even in 2019 when Gill took the title. Morgan however got her revenge and successfully defended her title this year following a gritty 6 set win.
Morgan had a similarly tough semi final match against 3rd seed Mark Pipet which she also clinched over 6 sets. The decisive set was the 5th which Morgan edged 13-11.
Left-hander Gill on the other hand had a smoother route to the final, but still needed to bounce back from dropping the opening end to 4th seed Martin Sarre before coming through 4-1.
Over 70’s Open Singles
Terry Trustum was unseeded when he won this event in November, however this time he was top seeded and he lived up this billing with a comfortable straight sets win over the unseeded Ken Falla.
Trustum had beaten 3rd seed Maurice James over 5 sets in the first semi-final whilst Falla had to it the hard way to make it to the final. He started with a epic 7 set win over 2nd seed Keith Opie in the Quarter finals, where the decisive 7 end was won 12-10. This was followed up with an equally tough 6 set triumph against 4th seed Ian Fitchet where the 6th end was won 11-9.
Saturday Morning
Under 11 Open Singles
Cameron Powell claimed his first ever Island Championship title following a straight sets win over unexpected finalist in the form of the unseeded Barnaby Groves. Powell had gone one better than November where he lost in the final over 5 sets to Oskar Cleal and he did not drop a set en route to the final which included straight sets wins over Indy Tostevin and 4th seed Luke Evans.
Groves on the other hand put in some superb performances during the event which started with him coming back excellently from 3-0 down to edge past Gabriel Crosland in 7 sets, 11-8 the score in the deciding end. This was followed with a straight sets win over 3rd seed Albie Lihou before an even better win against 2nd seed Alex Hutchinson in the semi finals, over 6 hard fought sets.
Under 13 Open Singles
Stepping out of the Under 11 category, Oskar Cleal maintained his firm grip of the U13 Open Singles category which he won back in November. It was in fact to be a repeat of the very same final from November as he came up against 2nd seed Jack Gilbey. Last time saw a tight 4-0 win for Cleal, whilst this time he got the job done over 5 sets.
Cleal did not drop a set during wins over Remi Tomlin, Xavier Ingrouille or Alex Hutchinson, whilst Gilbey also took that perfect record into the final courtesy of wins over Charlie Tourtel, Luke Evans and 4th seed Joshua Crosland.
Under 15 Girls Singles
Shelby Timms retained her Under 15 Girls Singles title which she first won in November. She underlined her dominance in this event by defeating both Remi Tomlin and Emily Gavey for the loss of just 21 points over the 8 sets contested.
2nd seed Gavey had earlier been a comfortable straight sets winner over Lily Regan in the semi final stages.
Under 15 Boys Singles
Top seeded Jayden Tucknott claimed his first victory in this event after defeating 2nd seeded U13 Open champion Oskar Cleal in the final without dropping a set. Tucknott had earlier surprisingly dropped a set during his quarter final match with Seb Jennings, but his semi final win over 3rd seed Jack Gilbey was in straight sets.
Cleal won both his prior encounters over Gareth Evans and Joshua Crosland in straight sets.
Under 11 Singles: Cameron Powell beat Barnaby Groves
Under 13 Singles: Oskar Cleal beat Jack Gilbey
Under 15 Boys Singles: Jayden Tucknott beat Oskar Cleal
Under 15 Girls Singles: Shelby Timms beat Emily Gavey
Over 50 Singles: Dawn Morgan beat Andy Gill
Over 70 Singles: Terry Trustum beat Ken Falla
Friday Evening
The outcome from the 3 x events on the Friday evening were identical to that of November, with Mark Pipet, Paul Hainsworth and Ben Foss retaining their titles in the respective Over 60’s Open Singles, the Restricted Singles and the Under 21 Open Singles.
Over 60’s Open Singles
In a repeat of the final from November, Pipet overcame 2nd seeded Kay Chivers in the final over 5 sets to be come the first Island Champion of the event. The scores were strange in that all of the sets were won either 11-7 or 11-3, with Chivers taking the 3rd end 11-7. The success is Pipet’s 4th in this category, having only failed to win it once in 2019, when Chivers took the title. Pipet and Chivers had earlier been straight sets winners over the unseeded duo of Maurice James and Ken Falla respectively in the semi finals. The shock result of the event was an excellent straight sets win for 3rd Division player Mark Windsor over 3rd seed and GTTA President Derek Webb.
Restricted Singles (21-40)
The event which excludes players to have competed in the Green Trophy Inter-Insular event for the past 2 seasons has been dominated by Paul Hainsworth since it’s commencement in 2014. Hainsworth made it title number 7 courtesy of a straight sets win over 3rd seed Jamie Ferbrache in the final.
Ferbrache had earlier done excellently to battle past 2nd seed Ryan Gilson in the semi finals, battling back from 2-0 and 3-2 down before clinching the decider 11-8. Hainsworth had a more comfortable straight sets win over Paula Le Ber in the other semi final, however Le Ber was unlucky to not take the 3rd end which she led 10-9.
Le Ber had earlier earned herself a surprise 7 set win over the finalist from November, 4th seed Sam Clark. Le Ber had been comfortably ahead 3-0 before Clark clawed his way back to a deciding end. He then looked to be in control whist leading the decider 5-3, but Le Ber played superbly from therein to win the next 8 points and seal it 11-5.
Under 21 Open Singles
Ben Foss won his 4th consecutive title in this category when he comfortably defeated 3rd seed Ben Sharp in the final in straight sets. Foss was untroubled throughout the event and did not drop any sets during his prior wins over Jonah Ingrouille and 4th seed Ellis Tomlin.
Sharp on the other hand had an excellent evening filled with dramatic matches. His opponent in the Quarter Finals was Max Burrows after the 3rd Division player had earlier shocked 2nd Division player James Crocker in 6 sets. Sharp overcame Burrows 4-1 to set-up an intriguing clash with 2nd seed Ryan Bichard. Sharp played very consistent table tennis during the encounter and earned a hard fought 7 set win.
Under-21 Singles: Ben Foss (1) beat Ben Sharp (3) 11-6 , 11-8 , 11-4 , 11-5
Restricted Singles: Paul Hainsworth (1) beat Jamie Ferbrache (3) 11-3, 11-4 11-2, 11-5
Over-60 Singles: Mark Pipet (1) beat Kay Chivers(2) 11-7 , 11-3 , 7-11 , 11-3 , 11-7
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