Inter Insulars 2023

Jersey may have come away with the overall greater success during the recent annual Channel Island Championships and Inter-Insulars, however it was the Sarnians who experienced the large majority of success across all of the blue riband events contested.

Indeed the action at the Geoff Reed Table Tennis Centre at the FB Fields in Jersey started fruitfully for the hosts, who claimed 13 of the 20 individual CI titles up for grabs on the Friday evening. The outcome could have ended much more heavily in their favour as the first 2 rounds of action saw the Caesareans romp through unbeaten across all 8 matches contested. The first round saw a trio of straight sets wins for Jersey players and it was only Phil Ogier that tested his opponent Gregorz Frankowski in the Veterans Open Singles. Despite his battling efforts the strong Green Trophy player had too much in the locker and won in 5 sets after securing a tight final end 14-12.

The second round saw another 2 matches go the way of Jersey in straight sets, however the other 2 could easily have been claimed by the Guernsey players on another day. The sole blue riband event to slip from the hands of the Guernsey contingent was the Women’s Doubles. Alice Edwards and Shelby Timms were up against sisters Hannah and Kathryn Silcock and looked in a strong position to take the win when comfortably leading 3-1, however they were agonisingly unable to close out the match and lost the final 3 tight ends 11-9, 12-10, 12-10. On an adjacent table Aiden Ozanne was also unable to close out his U11 final against Jonty Porter. Ozanne had emphatically won the first 2 sets for the loss of just 10 points before edging a closer contested third end 12-10. He looked sure to close out the match when holding numerous match points in the 4th, however Porter showed tremendous battling skills and kept retrieving the ball, often from the back of the table. It enabled him to squeeze through 17-15 and from there he looked to have a good hold in the match. He comfortably took the 5th 11-4, but Ozanne came again and had a strong 7-3 lead in the 6th. Porter was however not to be denied and he once more battled back from the brink and took the game 11-8 before winning the tight final end also 11-8.

The third round finally saw a Guernsey victory, however on paper it was not the one that would have been expected. Dan Collenette played some excellent table tennis against Jersey’s Green Trophy player Leon Pierre in the Under 21 Open Singles event and won in 6 sets. The other matches in this round were won by Jersey including a super 5 set win for the returning Jersey chopper Chris Morshead over Edwards in the Restricted Open Singles final.

It was however from this stage of Guernsey trailing 11-1 on matches that an exceptionally strong and much needed finish was the order of the day.

The 4th round was fruitful as it saw 3 of the 4 finals won by Guernsey players. The victories in 2 of these matches came at entirely opposite ends of the scale. Dawn Morgan on the one hand breezed past Irene Billet-Masters in straight sets for the loss of just 7 points in the Women’s Veterans Singles, whilst Mark Pipet was embroiled in a true classic against long-term rival Eugene Ellis in the Over 60’s Open Singles. Ellis’s frantic and aggressive style of table tennis looked to be too strong for Pipet on the night when he won the 4th end 11-7 to open up a 3-1 lead, however Pipet was determined to win and he took the next 2 ends 11-7, 11-3. The final end could have gone either way, but Pipet continued to show great fight and some effective long serves proved fruitful on his way to edging through 13-11 much to the delight of the strong travelling Guernsey contingent.

The other Guernsey victory in this round came from the leading player in the Channel Islands, Garry Dodd. In his first of 3 finals of the night, he successfully teamed with Joshua Butler to defeat the strong pairing of Mariusz Cieminski and Frankowski in straight sets. This was their 3rd CI title at this level together and Dodd’s 7th overall.

The remaining 4 matches of the evening were also successful as it saw a further 3 wins obtained.

Dodd was involved in 2 of these and his evening was finished off alongside Edwards in a 5-set win over Hannah Silcock and Pierre in the Mixed Doubles.

Before that however were the last remaining blue riband events and indeed the main events in the form of the Men’s and Women’s Singles.

Dodd was finished first as he picked up his 9th CI Men’s Singles crown. The final was a repeat of the prior year and an almost repeat outcome with him emphatically and clinically seeing off Cieminski in 4 straight sets. The first 3 sets were won for the loss of just 11 points. Cieminski fought and saved some pride in the 4th end, but still could not get close to the imperious Dodd, who sealed it 11-8.

Edwards on the other hand faced a stern test against a player in Silcock who is regularly training and competing off-Island. Despite this fact, Edwards showed that she has not lost much of her sharpness despite her lengthy time away from the game as she put in an excellent performance on her way to a 5-set win in which she won the final 2 games comfortably 11-4.

The Inter-Insulars took place on the following day and followed a similar theme to the individual CI events. This theme being that Jersey experienced the greater overall success, but with Guernsey enjoying more success in the blue riband events, including the highly sought after Green Trophy.

The overall result of the aggregate was a comfortable 79-51 result for the hosts in what was their first aggregate triumph since 2017, after a run of three consecutive wins for the Sarnians amongst 2 COVID interrupted years. The win takes Jersey into double figures for aggregate successes; however Guernsey still comfortably leads this, having won the aggregate trophy a whopping 37 times.

There were a few notable changes to the Inter-Insular this year and most notably was the introduction of 2 new Inter-Insular Team event matches. The new events were the Restricted Open event, which is for players aged between 21 and 40 that have not competed in the Green Trophy for the prior 2 seasons, whilst the other event was the Over 70’s Open. The Lions Table Tennis Club donated trophies for these new events in memory of their former President and leading man, the late great Peter Powell, meaning that these events are contested for the Peter Powell Trophy and the Peter Powell Memorial Trophy respectively.

The other change was the introduction of the Women’s Inter-Insular match for the Margaret Trophy taking place in the evening alongside the Men’s Green Trophy clash.

It was Guernsey that returned to the Island with both key trophies intact following a memorable unbeaten evening of action.

The Margaret Trophy included the absence of Edwards which benefitted the Caesareans who managed to salvage a draw in an event which they have not won since 1999 and the last time they did not taste defeat was in 2001 when it ended as a 5-5 stalemate. Guernsey, however, as holders, retained the trophy. Morgan, Kay Chivers and Timms all contributed to this result. Chivers and Timms enjoyed the most success as each earned singles wins against Kathryn Silcock and Freya Allaway. Dawn Morgan defeated Allaway and was unfortunate to lose to Kathryn in 5 sets in the penultimate match of the night despite having led 2-0.

The Green Trophy on the other table was a classic as it traditionally is. Jersey made a super start as their Polish players each earned their own tight respective wins against the Stacey twins Lawrence and Joshua. Cieminski trailed Lawrence 2-1 before he battled back to take the final 2 ends 11-3, 11-4, whilst Frankowski maintained the momentum when he edged past Joshua 11-9 in the deciding 5th end. Up stepped Ben Foss with pressure on to get his side off the mark and he duly delivered with a comfortable straight sets win over Pierre. Lawrence dropped the opener to Frankowski before motoring into gear and comfortably winning the remaining 3 ends for the loss of just 12 points to draw the tie level. The impressive Cieminski continued his strong form when he beat Foss in straight sets, however the Stacey twins combined in the following pivotal doubles rubber to defeat Cieminski and Frankowski in 4 sets. From here the Sarnians started to purr and won 3 of the remaining 4 matches to seal a 6-4 win. Josh Stacey defeated Pierre in 4 sets before Foss ensured that the trophy would stay in Guernsey hands when he narrowly overcame Frankowski in 5 sets. Lawrence beat Pierre in 4 sets to conclude the victory, leaving Cieminski to clinch the dead rubber over Josh in straight sets, ending his evening unbeaten in singles action.

The two new events were also fruitful for the Guernsey team as a victory and a draw were obtained.

In the Restricted Event for the Peter Powell Trophy a tight 6-4 win was obtained. Edwards was the star of the show as she won all her singles matches. She defeated Miguel Freitas in straight sets and Kamal Jedrasik in 5 sets before sealing the win in the final game of the match when she avenged her prior evening defeat to beat Morshead in straight sets. She also teamed well with Ryan Bichard as they defeated Jedrasik and Freitas in an important doubles match where they had trailed 2-1. Bichard defeated Freitas well in 4 sets, whilst the final win came from Paul Hainsworth in his first match of the morning where he beat Jedrasik in 4 sets.

In the Over70’s Open Event for the Peter Powell Memorial Trophy a hard fought 5-5 draw was the order of the day for the past masters. Keith Opie starred for Guernsey with an uneaten afternoon of play. He too avenged a prior evening defeat when he beat Frank Bougeard in 5 sets and he followed up on this with an equally hard fought 5 set win over Paul Routier, 12-10 in the 5th as well as a straight sets win over Dave Le Clercq. His final action came in the doubles where he teamed with Maurice James to beat Bougeard and Le Clercq in 4 sets. It was Ken Falla who picked up the 5th rubber with a key 4 set win over Routier, whilst James came close in his opening match against Bougeard where he led 2-1 before missing out in 5 sets.

The best win of the day came in the Over 60’s where an 8-2 win was obtained. Mark Pipet and Kay Chivers each played strong table tennis on their way to singles wins over Martin Tupper, Tony Wood and Rob Blackmore. The duo also won the doubles against Wood and Blackmore in straight sets, whilst Andy Ferbrache added a further 4 set win over Tupper in the opening game of the match.

This success was closely followed by the Under 11’s for the Dean Trophy where a 7-3 win was obtained. In yet another reverse of the prior evening, Ozanne got his revenge on Porter and won in 4 sets. He followed up on this with straight sets wins over Xavier Bartus and Anna Middleton. Luke Evans battled past Bartus in 5 sets, taking the final end 12-10 and he also beat Middleton in straight sets. Luca Sidaner beat Middleton in straight sets, whilst Ozanne and Evans won the doubles against Porter and Bartus in 4 sets.

The other positive result from a Guernsey perspective was in the Under 18 Boys where the result was a 5-5 draw. Ben Sharp led the way strongly here with a trio of singles wins. He too continued the mould of reversing a prior evening’s defeat in the process. He had lost to John Le Fondre 4-1 the prior evening in the Under 18 CI final, but he made no mistakes here and won in 4 sets. He followed up with a straight sets win over Oscar Watkins and a 5-set win over Kevan Moreira in a game in which he trailed 2-0 before storming back to win. He also teamed with Connor Powell to win the crucial doubles rubber over Le Fondre and Moreira in 5 sets, whilst James Crocker sealed the draw when he impressively beat Watkins in straight sets.

Despite defeats in the other matches there were some strong individual performances. Jamie Ferbrache did superbly in his Over 40’s Inter-Insular debut and won 2 of his matches. This included a superb 4 set win over Eugene Ellis as well as a strong 5 set win over Ian Lambert. Phil Ogier also put in a top performance against Cieminski here in a match which was enjoyed by all spectators in attendance. There were some super rallies in the match which Cieminski eventually fought back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in.

The calendar for the domestic table tennis season has now concluded for the Guernsey Table Tennis Association, although the Natwest Island Games are the next big event where the leading Sarnian players will be striving for golds.