Pilot scheme makes encouraging start

DEREK WEBB, the Guernsey Table Tennis Association president, is confident the new league structure will prove popular. 'The feedback has been quite positive,' said Webb, who has overseen a huge rise in the number of teams in the past five years.

In 1999, just 23 contested the winter league.

This season the number is up to 40, with 32 three-man and eight two-man teams in the top flight.

Webb said that the move to two-man teams in Division One was forced on the association due to the relatively small number of players capable at that level.

'We really had only 12 first division players. You could say we were a bit short in the higher bracket. We had a choice of four three-man teams or what we've gone for.

'It's a pilot scheme, but the first two weeks have gone well.'

The GTTA's other major league development has been to throw the best of the outstanding young juniors into Division Two and immediately there were some notable wins by them.

Paul Hainsworth, Gary Dodd, Paula Le Ber, Alice Loveridge, Adam Langlois, Ollie Langlois and Mathew Stubbington all impressed with very mature performances and already it seems that this winter some very capable and experienced players will act as cannon fodder for this exciting young crop.

Early favourites for the Division One title are CI men's new champion Peter Bretel and Martin Sarre. They got their campaign off to a promising start by beating the Whistlers C pairing of Dawn Morgan and Gary Willcocks 5-0.

In the opener, Bretel and Morgan shared the opening four games before the former stepped up a gear and reeled off the last two

11-6, 11-6. Willcocks was expected to square the match by defeating Sarre, but the ever-improving Lions B player had other ideas and saw off the former in six attacking games.

Bretel then beat Willcocks relatively easily 4-1 and Sarre continued his fine early-season form by beating Morgan in six tight games.

The tightest rubber of the night was the doubles, which the Lions pair won 12-10 in the deciding seventh game.

Elsewhere in the top division, Whistlers A (Mark Pipet and Neil Hastie) beat the Lions D pairing of Steve Brouard and Graham Lesbirel 3-2. There were two wins for Pipet and from 3-1 down in games, he combined with Hastie to claim the decisive doubles 11-9 in the seventh.

Lions A, who were missing Phil Ogier, might have expected to struggle without the island number one, but Terry Trustum proved to be an inspired substitute and recorded solid wins against Tim Le Page and Wasif Annees. James Lesbirel also won both his games but not before he had been pushed hard by both Le Page and Annees. The doubles went to Lions who ran out very convincing 5-0 winners.

In the other top game of the week, Scott Romeril was in scintillating form as he dropped only one leg to Martyn Gaudion in winning his two games.

Gaudion, however, scored a fine win over island star Jez Powell in six games, but Powell got his season under way with a narrow win over Kay Chivers, 11-8 in the seventh. Whistlers won the doubles but Lions ran out 3-2 winners.