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Leading table tennis players taking part in the Senior British Club Leagues had a very different experience last weekend compared to their first appearance.
Those initial fixtures in September saw both Sarnian sides at the foot of their divisions, Guernsey 1 within National A-1 and Guernsey 2 within National C-1, with neither side able to record a victory.
Fast forward to the weekend just gone and success was tasted for both sides at the Halton Regional Table Tennis Centre in Widnes, Cheshire.
The first team was missing number three Lawrence Stacey for the opening weekend and his return proved fruitful for the team, who managed to win half of their matches and move up to sixth spot in the process.
They started with all guns blazing thanks to a strong 6-3 victory over bottom placed side Colin Deaton 1 in a match which saw Ben Foss unbeaten.
His first match was a tough one against Jake Meikle, however he regrouped well from falling 2-1 behind to fight back, edging the nervy decider 14-12. His other win came against the higher ranked Ronan Kelly, ranked 119 in England. Foss dropped the opening set before coming through in 4 sets, the fourth set an epic in which he clinched it 20-18.
Joshua Stacey and Ryan Bichard each picked up victories over Rowan Jones in straight and four sets respectively, whilst Lawrence won his first match of the campaign over Mark Firth in four sets. Twins Joshua and Lawrence combined strongly in the doubles to dispatch Kelly and Meikle in straight sets. The result could have been even better, however Lawrence was edged 11-9 in the fifth by Meikle, in a match which he had led 2-0, whilst Bichard was ousted in five sets by Firth in the final match, despite having led 2-1.
The afternoon fixture on the opening day of action was an extremely hard match against the strong second placed Butterfly Lilleshall 1 side and a heavy 9-0 defeat was incurred. Despite the loss, the Guernsey side did fight hard and lost a few tight five setters. Lawrence was beaten 11-9 in the deciding end by Abhishek Sudhakar, whilst alongside Josh, they were unlucky not get a result in the doubles against top 40 player in England Ferenc Horvath and Hui Yeung Elliott Chan, with the Lilleshall pair fighting back from 2-1 down to win over the distance.
Sunday started with an even tougher prospect, league leaders eBaTT 1 the opposition. The strength was clear to see in a heavy 8-1 defeat, with all singles matches won by the victors. Foss picked up a leg during a tight four set defeat to England number 65 Sammy Kaye, whilst Bichard also won a set during his four set loss to Agnelo Naik, however all other matches were settled in straight sets. Guernsey did however pick up some consolation in the doubles, where an impressive five set win was achieved over Kaye and England number 55 Christopher Lewis.
The weekend ended on a high however, as another strong 6-3 was obtained, this time seventh placed side Draycott I the side on the wrong end of the result. Lawrence and Bichard signed off their weekend in style with two strong singles wins each. Lawrence in particular was in excellent form as he beat Awais Muhammed and Navinder Matharu each comfortably in straight sets. Bichard started with a super straight sets win over Jody Bevington and followed up by edging out Muhammed 11-9 in the deciding end. Foss beat Matharu in straight sets, whilst Joshua defeated Bevington in four sets.
One of the highest ranked players in the Division, England number 44 Artur Veeck Caltabiano, proved to be too strong on the day and was unbeaten for his side. Joshua came remarkably close to pulling out a sensational win, but lost 11-8 in the deciding end, whilst Foss also played well, losing in four sets. The doubles was won by Caltabiano and Muhammed over Josh and Lawrence in four sets.
The second team on the other hand finished the weekend in bottom spot, however they have the same number of points as both Halton TTC 3 and Isle of Man, with an excellent 5-4 win over Halton being obtained on Saturday afternoon, despite them being 4-2 down.
Matthew Casey was the star performer as he defeated James Courtney in four sets, James Bowman in straight sets and obtaining a straight sets doubles win alongside Jamie Ferbrache against Bowman and Rowan Kumar. Joseph Bourgaize battled back excellently in the 7th match from 2-0 down to defeat Kumar in five sets to keep his side in contention, whilst it was Sam Clark that completed the turnaround in the final match of the day, overcoming Bowman in four sets.
The side struggled in their other fixtures, however Bourgaize and Clark did pick up a further two singles wins each during these matches.
There is not long to wait until the penultimate round of fixtures takes place as the shorter weekend of just two fixtures is being held on Saturday 7th December.
Pictured top: Josh Stacey in the 2024 Island Championships. Image from Guernsey Table Tennis Flickr.
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