Transformed Bretel destroys champion

PETER BRETEL, the newly-crowned Channel Islands men's singles champion, has undergone a spectacular transformation. Gone is the long hair to be replaced by a shaven head and, most crucially, gone is the tension which had held him back from reaching the very top of the CI game.

A month short of his 30th birthday, Bretel blew away Jersey champion Eugene Ellis in five sets at the Guernsey Bowls Stadium with a wonderful display of attacking table tennis.

'I always felt confident because of the type of game I'm playing now,' admitted Bretel, who had former champion Phil Ogier in his corner.

'I knew he'd go flat out attack - so I knew the ball's going to come in fast and spinning. I had to serve tight to him.'

Ogier said the game-plan had worked a treat.

'I told him he had to dominate the game and not let Eugene in,' said Ogier as only a yard or so away Bretel accepted the congratulations from fellow players in both islands.

Rallies were short and very sharp as the two finalists went onto the attack.

Bretel took the first of the best-of-seven final 14-12 but the Jerseyman, who was to appear in five CI finals on a hectic evening for the left-hander, hit back to level in the second.

From 5-5 in the third Bretel raced to an 11-8 game and a 2-1 lead, which he soon made 3-1 by taking the fourth 11-6.

Ellis, champion in 1990, 2001 and 2003, was struggling to cope with the Bretel serve and no sooner had he returned to the table he found himself 0-5 down.

The Jerseyman won back a couple of points but Bretel then won three in a row to lead 9-2 and be just two points from the title.

Ellis dug deep and got it back to 8-10, but the Guernseyman allowed him no further and took the next for the trophy on a fantastic night for the locals.

The greens won 14 of the 18 CI finals and nobody was more successful than Dawn Morgan and Scott Romeril.

Morgan won three trophies, including the singles at Kay Lefevre's expense, while Romeril won four, including three individual successes through the age scales.

Alice Loveridge, just nine, also played well above her age to land both the under-15 and under-18 cups.

There was also a celebratory title for Matthew Stubbington on his 11th birthday.