Irish humbled by boys

DEREK WEBB has welcomed another step up the home international ladder for his young table tennis players. At Limerick, the Guernsey under-16 boys' duo of Scott Romeril and Ryan Perry pulled off the island's first victory over Northern Ireland and the pair also thumped the Manx pairing

5-0.

'Scott Romeril had a great weekend,' said the GTTA president.

'Of his 11 singles matches he won seven, two of those defeats to the top English player.'

'It was a very successful weekend for us, absolutely fantastic. The most successful yet,' added Webb.

Other highlights included an unexpected win for Adam Langlois, 13, who beat Adam Draper, the Welsh youngster who won the British Primary Schools singles title in Guernsey back in April.

Langlois and fellow under-14 Gary Dodd combined well to shock Wales 3-2 and the Welsh also lost to the Sarnians' under-14 girls' pairing of Alice Loveridge and Paula Le Ber.

There was further success for the latter when she defeated an England player to join the small band of islanders to have won against an English representative.

None of the Guernsey contingent qualified for the knockout stages of the singles - Romeril went close - but Webb was delighted with the overall performance.

'All the hard work has paid off,' he said.

'I just can't wait for our next tournament.'

England won the majority of trophies on stake in Limerick, including a boys-girls double at under-14 level and an under-16 boys' triumph. Wales won the under-16 girls.