ALICE LOVERIDGE (pictured) made a winning return to the local table tennis scene, retaining the Spot For Sport trophy that she won 12 months ago.
In a very entertaining final, she secured an exhilarating five-game triumph over the in form Phil Ogier.
The tournament itself is unique as every round from the group stages right up until the final are drawn.
The implications of this format mean that the normally seeded players were potentially in for tougher matches earlier on in the tournament and it also gave a great opportunity for some of the improving players to make their mark if the draws were kind to them.
Surprise results were few and far between in the group stages with only two notable results that went against the form book.
Second Division stalwart Rob Vile scored a highly decisive straight game victory over First Division Specsavers player Jeremy Tan.
However, he failed to build on this win and failed to qualify from the group, missing out to Loveridge and the ever improving Joshua Stacey, who booked their place in the next round.
The other surprise result saw another First Division player defeated by a Second Division player, with high flying Kay Chivers producing a four-game victory over her Whistlers counterpart Martin Sarre.
Specsavers’ Mark Fallaize booked his place in the quarter finals with a four-game victory over Cenkos Panthers Third Division player Ben Foote and he was joined in the quarter-finals by Sarre who put his defeat to Chivers behind him to power past Maurice James in straight games.
Lions A’s Liam Robilliard booked his quarter-final berth with a four-game victory over Stacey and teammate Ogier joined him with a comprehensive straight-game victory over Joshua Butler.
Jez Powell also made his way to the quarter-finals with a four-game victory over Neil Hastie and Matthew Stubbington won the last first round match with a straight game victory over Chivers.
The first round also saw byes given to last year’s finalists in Loveridge and Paul Hainsworth, to complete the quarter-final line-up.
The first player to make their way into the semi-finals was Loveridge with a polished performance to see off Robilliard in straight games and she was shortly joined by Stubbington, who also posted a comfortable straight-game victory, this time over Powell.
Hainsworth made the semi-finals with a tight four-game victory over Fallaize, needing to battle back from a game deficit in the process.
The final player to book their place in the semi-finals was Ogier, coming through a titanic tussle with Sarre, who was unlucky in missing opportunities in both the second and third games, which he duly lost in deuce to succumb to a straight-game defeat.
Ogier went from the being the last player to book his place in the semis to the first player to make it into the final with a dominant straight-game victory over Hainsworth.
Ogier’s consistency was too great on this occasion and Hainsworth did not have the answers to break through Ogier’s excellent defence on the evening making too many errors.
The second semi-final taking place on the adjacent table was a real classic and it saw Stubbington open up a surprise 2-1 lead over British 2012 Olympic hopeful Loveridge.
Unluckily for Stubbington, Loveridge showed just why she is in the prestigious group of five ladies, romping through the final two games for the loss of just six points in the process.
What was to come next was not on the agenda for the young starlet as Ogier made an excellent start to their final encounter, opening up a two-game lead through some fine defensive counter table tennis.
The rallies were mainly epic exchanges that lasted multiple strokes with Loveridge’s impeccable attacking strokes being countered by Ogier’s defensive skills that were at some stages phenomenal, retrieving some shots that looked well out of range.
Loveridge was not to be denied, though, and she showed her competitive mentality in keeping her calm and battling through to victory 11-9 in the final game to retain her title.
The game was an excellent demonstration of local table tennis and all in attendance were treated to one of the best finals on the eye of the last few years, played with the utmost respect between the two players throughout.
n The next major tournament on the agenda is the Channel Island Open Top 12 qualifying on 1 December.
The event see the top 10 local players playing each other in a round robin format that sees the top six placed qualifiers going on to compete against their Jersey counterparts at the Geoff Reed Centre in Jersey on 30 January 2010.
Spot for Sport results belowSpot For Sport Trophy: Runner-up Ogier plays his part in exhilarating finale to open tournament
Article posted on 24th November, 2009 - 2.29pm
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