Select a region
The new domestic table tennis season is finally fully underway.
While the Doric Insurance sponsored senior leagues commenced at the start of September, action within the top-flight only got underway last week, with the island's top players keen to get back into competitive action.
On paper the balancing of teams across the board looks good and close matches are expected to be the order of the day in the majority of cases.
Whistlers A are the only unchanged team and look like they will have a strong chance of picking up the title, having come close in the past few seasons. The team of Joshua Stacey, Matthew Casey and Joseph Bourgaize were up against a debuting Ravenscroft Panthers A side - the first time the club has had a team in the top flight in approximately a decade.
The Panthers side are expected to have a tough time and this was made even harder with the absence of their leading two players for this fixture, Nye Matthew and Andy Gill. The Whistlers side took full advantage of this and secured the first whitewash of the season.
Stacey, Casey and Bourgaize were all on hand to defeat junior Barnaby Groves as well as reserves Brandon Ferbrache and Juliette Yeaman. Groves very nearly made a successful debut during his encounter with Casey. He clawed back a 2-0 deficit to restore parity and looked strong favourite to win, with a hefty 7-1 lead in the deciding end. Experience proved to be key in the end as Casey gradually worked his way back into it and edged through 11-9. The doubles match was the only other close match and it saw Casey and Bourgaize bounce back from dropping the opener against Groves and Ferbrache to win over four sets.
Lions C were also victors during the opening fixtures of the season after they secured a hard fought 7-3 win over defending champions Lions A.
Ryan Bichard continued the form he showed at the end of last season with an unbeaten evening for the victors. He was a comfortable straight sets winner over both Joshua Butler and Liam Robilliard during his first two matches. He was however tested in his final match against Sam Clark, during the final match of the evening. Clark extended it to a deciding fifth set, but Bichard did enough and clinched the tight set 11-8.
Dan Collenette's return to regular action was fruitful as it saw him defeat Robilliard in four sets and Clark in straight sets. He also combined with Bichard to win the doubles against Butler and Robilliard in straight sets. Connor Powell made a great start to his season, as he picked up a solid four set win over Clark. He also competed well against Robilliard and Butler, falling in five and four sets respectively. Butler added a further straight sets win over Collenette.
The final team to obtain a victory was Whistlers B, who narrowly saw off a weakened Lions B side, missing Jamie Ferbrache. Lawrence Stacey was the best performer on the night, as his unbeaten evening of singles action contributed to half of the wins from the 6-4 triumph. Despite this, he was tested extensively in all of his matches.
His first match was against 11-year old reserve Luke Evans, the 2nd Division reserve marking his first ever top flight match and arguably the youngest player to compete in Division 1 in recent memory. Evans played superbly in the match, despite losing in four sets. The second set was the closest as it saw Stacey need to save a number of game points before edging it 16-14. Evans was undeterred and played excellently to win the third 11-6. Evans continued to battle well, but fell 11-8 in the decisive fourth end.
Stacey's next match was against Phil Ogier and he was up against it, after losing a titanic third end 17-15, to trail 2-1. He dug deep and played some strong table tennis to turn it round, taking the final two sets by matching 11-6 scores.
The final match saw Stacey come the closest to defeat, as Steve Ozanne also led 2-1. The fourth end in this clash was however much closer and Stacey came with two points of losing, before edging it 13-11. He went on to claim the final end 11-7.
Dawn Morgan's return to regular league action went well as she defeated Ozanne and Evans in straight sets, while 2nd Division reserve Mark Pipet overcame Evans in straight sets to secure the victory. Ogier defeated Morgan and Pipet in straight and four sets respectively, whilst Ozanne beat Pipet in straight sets. The Lions duo combined strongly to comfortably see off Stacey and Morgan in straight sets in the doubles match.
The final match of the week resulted in a 5-5 stalemate between Lions D and Lions E. Ben Foss made the difference for the E side, as he was unbeaten across the four matches he competed in. He secured four set wins over Paul Hainsworth and Jez Powell, as well as a straight sets win over Division 1 debutant Craig Dunning.
The crucial doubles match saw him team with Matthew Stubbington to narrowly oust Hainsworth and Powell 11-8 in the deciding end. Stubbington was the player to secure the other rubber on the night, as he comfortably dispatched Dunning in straight sets in the match opener. For the D side, Hainsworth and Powell each defeated Stubbington and Charlotte Casey in straight sets. Dunning opened his account for the season with a straight sets win over Casey.
After three fixtures, Whistlers C and Whistlers D are the only teams remaining with a 100% winning record and both have identical games different ratios.
The C side have won all three of their matches 7-3 with Kennedy Chepkor, Paula Le Ber and Tim Le Page all having contributed strongly to each of the results. Chepkor has been the standout performer, having won eight of his nine matches. His sole defeat came at the hands of Luke Evans, the youngster emphatically dispatching him in straight sets on the first night of the season.
The D side on the other hand have won two close matches 6-4 and the other 9-1. Kay Chivers is already at this early stage, the only player in the Division yet to lose a singles match. She did come close to defeat in her very first match of the season against St Pauls A. She trailed Terry Trustum 2-1, but was able to fight back and edge the deciding fifth end 12-10.
There are five players currently sat on eight singles wins out of nine, including Chepkor. Evans is one of those players after he secured a superb four set win over Pipet, just one evening after his defeat to the same player in the top flight. Pipet is another player on eight out of nine, having only lost to Evans, whilst Caden Brouard is the sole player to have beaten Evans, which was in five sets. Brouard's sole loss so far came at the hands of Pipet in four sets. The final player to have had this successful start is Mark Fenwick, who has lost to only Andy Ferbrache thus far and this was in five sets in a match which he led 2-0.
As anticipated, Ravenscroft Panthers D appear to be heavy favourites for the title. From the four fixtures played so far, they have lost just one single match. The team of Shaun Mosley, Steve Martin and Micah Cohen have not actually lost any matches between them. The sole loss came from their reserve Will Davidson, who was defeated by Andriy Lyashko in straight sets, during their clash against Whistlers H.
The other Ravenscroft Panthers team, Ravenscroft Panthers E are also unbeaten so far. The team of Xavier Ingrouille, Richard Wellfair and Vikki Stacey have all made strong starts to the season, with Ingrouille near the top of the averages, having lost just once in his 12 singles games. He was defeated in straight sets by Rob Vile from St Pauls B.
Lions K, Lions M and Ravenscroft Panthers G are all level at the top, each having secured three consecutive wins to start the season. The K side have been the best as they have lost just two single matches. Rolands Tracums has won all of his matches, with Val Guilbert and Diane Le Page having lost to just Ruth Vaudin, in five sets, so far.
The Lions M side of Karen Brouard, Katy Collenette and Rachael Sharp have won all of their matches comfortably, with reserves Rose Powell and Jan Priest having contributed strongly during the opening three matches of the season.
The youthful Panthers side of Isla Bretel, Olivia Guilbert and Thea Cummins have impressed so far this season, with all players having won at least seven of their nine matches played so far.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.