Garry Dodd came within a whisker of reaching the final and a showdown with Jersey rival Craig Gascoyne. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0799770)
GUERNSEY did not have the golden ending they would have so wished for in the table tennis campaign at Aland’s Idrottscenter.
Garry Dodd and Dawn Morgan claimed singles bronze having fallen in Saturday morning’s semi-finals while Morgan and Kay Chivers teamed up to take silver in the doubles.
The Sarnian pairing was involved in an epic final against Gotland’s Annika Ahlgren and Elin Schwartz.
The Scandinavians took the opening leg comfortably, 11-3, but the Guernsey combination found their rhythm in the second, to level the match 11-8.
Another tight leg followed, this time edged by the Gotlanders 11-9, but Chivers and Morgan responded well in a marathon fourth set, forcing a decider by winning it 15-13.
However, Ahlgren and Schwartz denied the Sarnian stalwarts another Games gold by the narrowest of margins in the fifth, at 11-9.
Dodd’s singles semi-final was similarly tight.
He had fallen 2-0 down to Johan Petterson in their best of seven match, but then reeled off three legs on the bounce to take the lead.
Petterson responded to edge a close sixth game, which Dodd had led 9-8 and, in the decider, the Gotlander got a huge slice of luck from a net cord to go 8-6 ahead and the frustrated Dodd then put his next serve into the net and the writing was on the wall.
Petterson won it 11-8 and went on to claim the gold.
‘I’m very disappointed,’ Dodd said.
‘I put a serve into the net in a tight game and had an unlucky net go against, too. Sometimes luck is what you need to win.
‘I have played well all throughout this tournament, but a couple of close points have not gone my way.’
Had he progressed, Dodd would have faced Jersey’s Craig Gascoyne in the final.
‘I looked over and saw he had won and I thought “come on” because I know I can beat him – I have done it a couple of times in the past,’ said the Sarnian, who has learnt more about his own game during the week.
‘I need to work on my footwork, but that all comes with playing and maturity.’
Morgan also lost to the eventual gold medallist in the singles as she went down 4-1 to Evelina Carlsson.
In the men’s doubles, Dodd and Phil Ogier combined to win bronze.
Day seven in Aland: Finals day produces four medals for Sarnians but no elusive gold
Article posted on 6th July, 2009 - 2.29pm
Most Commented: