WITH just the triathlon to come, Guernsey had pushed up to fourth in the medals table with a real chance of overhauling Gotland in third. Day six of competition in blistering hot Rhodes started with early golds on the running track and by late afternoon Alice Loveridge had added two more, one in combination with Kay Chivers, one all by herself in the singles to become the youngest ever Guernsey gold medallist.
On her 13th birthday she swept aside the Gotland player, Evelina Carlsson, in four sets.
After tight opening exchanges, victory was on the cards from the moment Loveridge won the first long rally of the match with a brilliant piece of defensive work.
She took the first set 11-7 and got the better of another lengthy excha-nge at the end of the second to win it 11-9.
A great comeback from going 5-2 down in the third, which she won 13-11, put her one set away from topping the podium and a brief fightback from Carlsson lasted only one set. The final scoreline was 4-1.
‘I did not really know what the standard would be like,’ said the gold medallist on what her hopes had been going into the week.
‘But after the team event, I knew I could beat her.’
Team captain Phil Hunkin had few doubts during the match.
‘Alice is playing very well, doing all the right things and I was reasonably confident that she was going to win,’ he said.
‘She played some of the big points really well. She showed composure and cool.’
Earlier in the afternoon, Chivers had joined Loveridge to sew up the women’s doubles crown.
They achieved victory over two Shetlanders in straight sets despite not being quite at their best.
‘It was a nice game to coach because it was straightforward,’ Hunkin said.
‘Kay played very well and the two go well together as a combination. They complement each other nicely.’
Article posted on 7th July, 2007 - 12.00am
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