This Is Guernsey

Emily Trebert, who, with Chloe Le Tissier enjoyed success along with their siblings. (Picture by Brian Green, 0544221)

THE Junior Island badminton championships were a tale of two families. Emily Trebert and brother Jordan reached six finals each, as did Luke Le Tissier, whose brother and sister, Glenn and Chloe, qualified for three apiece.

In all, the two families won 14 titles between them of the 24 available. The youngest member of the Trebert family, David, very nearly reached the final of the U-10 boys’ singles.

He came second in his group in the earlier round, losing in three close games to the eventual winner of the title, Andrew Jensen. Jensen is relatively new to badminton and showed great promise in beating the number one seed Chris Girauld in the final 21-13, 21-15.

The same two players met again in the doubles final when Jensen, partnered by Nazri Rouillard, beat Girauld and Matt Wakeford.

Jensen and Rouillard had lost to Girauld and Wakeford in the group round in a tight three-set match, but having won 23-21 in the first game of the final they kept their concentration and were the victors.

Chloe Le Tissier dominated the U-10 girls’ events, beating Naomi Priest in the singles, then partnering Priest to beat Atlanta Allen and Tillie Green in the doubles.

Le Tissier and Allen teamed up in the U-12 doubles but were beaten by the older partnership of Ellie Mason and Sara Martin 21-16, 21-10.

Mason and Martin also featured in the U-12 girls’ singles with the former winning 21-12, 21-16.

Martin took her revenge in the U-12 mixed doubles where, partnered by Luke Le Tissier, she beat Mason and Jordan Trebert 21-18, 21-11.

Le Tissier and Trebert teamed up to beat Callum Trebert and Dan de Garis in the boys doubles and then played against each other in the singles, Le Tissier winning 21-15, 21-13.

Trebert and Le Tissier proved their domination of the younger age groups by also reaching three finals each in the next age group.

They met again in the U-14 singles and this time it was a much closer match.

Le Tissier had to dig deep to win the first game when they set 25-23.

Trebert kept fighting in the second game, which was won again by Le Tissier to win the championship title.

Their partnership had more success in the U-14 doubles final, beating de Garis and Tom Ogier in a close three-set match.

Trebert teamed up with older sister Emily in the U-14 mixed doubles, in which, playing against Le Tissier and Maxine Cumming, Emily used her greater strength and experience to win two very close games 21-19, 21-19.

In the girls’ singles final, Emily Trebert played against Hannah Greenfield, who had played some of her best singles ever to win her group convincingly in the earlier round.

But Trebert plays singles with a great deal of determination and she dominated the match to win 21-11, 21-12.

Playing with regular partner Hannal Spittal, she won the U-14 doubles title against Greenfield and Candice Crowson, both pairs having comfortably won their group matches.

Glenn Le Tissier was a surprising qualifier for the U-16 singles final because not only was he the youngest player, but also he had been drawn in the same group as number one seed Matt Ceresa, and also James Spittal in the group round.

However, Le Tissier showed what a good singles player he is in winning all his matches in two straight games.

His opponent in the final, Nick Abbott was also not seeded to get though. However, he demonstrated a high standard of singles play that he had not shown before.

Unfortunately, Abbott was not able to continue that form in the final and, although it was a close match, Le Tissier was the eventual winner 21-14, 11-21, 21-13.

Le Tissier and Emily Trebert have been mixed doubles partners for several years and they proved too strong for Chris Rabey and Crowson in the U-16 final, winning 21-9, 21-13.

Le Tissier had to give a walkover to Ceresa and Abbott in the U16 boys doubles when his partner Harry Southwell picked up a calf muscle injury in the mixed group round.

Emily Trebert won her fourth title when she beat Harriet Thoumine in the U16 girls singles final.

Thoumine was defending the title she won last year, but despite the fact that she probably moves around the court better than any other girl, she lost to Trebert, who is playing at the top of her form, 21-11, 21-12.

Together they made a strong doubles pair who proved too much for Greenfield and Crowson in the final.

The group round of the U-18 boys’ singles had resulted in some of the biggest surprises of the tournament.

Once again Abbott played some of his best singles in beating number one seed Nick Merrien 20-21, 21-15, 21-16.

In the second group Ceresa, who has not played as much badminton as usual this season, showed he was back in form in winning all three of his matches in two games.

He carried that form into the final, while Abbott appeared to have lost his focus, which resulted in defeat 21-12, 21-12.

Merrien and Matt Thoume took the doubles title beating Ceresa and Abbott, then played on opposite sides of the net in the mixed doubles final.

Merrien and Miranda Knight won a very close final beating Thoume and Kiara Green 21-18, 21-18.

Knight and Green, both playing in their last U18 match, beat Jo Stagg and Charlie Watson in the girls’ double final.

They also contested the singles final, where Green showed her superior strength and experience, winning 21-14, 21-3.

Tournament organiser Jane Mahy said: ‘It is very encouraging in particular to see the enthusiasm of the youngest players and their determination to win.  We are thankful to the parents of all the juniors for encouraging them to play badminton.’

Karel Harris, of Sarnia Hotels, presented the trophies and medals.

Article posted on 28th May, 2008 - 2.29pm