Youngsters earn the right to compete in Germany

ALAN HANSEN once famously said 'you won't win anything with kids'. The Scottish football pundit was of course referring to the young Manchester United side that defied his comments to go on to do the double in 1996. Someone who hopes that his 'kids' will also prove Hansen wrong is Guernsey table tennis team manager, Phil Hunkin.

Hunkin is taking over an extremely young Guernsey team to the Liebherr World Team Table Tennis Championship.

Kicking off on Monday 24 April at the impressive AMD Dome in Bremen, Germany, 146 countries are taking part in the eight-day tournament.

The Guernsey team has an average age of 15 years old.

The youngest going is 11-year-old sensation Alice Loveridge who is the British Primary Schools champion.

'They are there by right,' said team manger Phil Hunkin.

'Both the men's and women's team are youthful and they are all in the top half-a-dozen players on the island. James Lesbirel is the oldest at 21 but the rest of them are under 17.'

Loveridge is joined in the women's team by Paula Le Ber, 13, and Bethany Pipet, 16. They find themselves in Division Three alongside Colombia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Madagascar and Portugal.

Their first match is against the Lebanese.

'The division is pretty diverse,' said Hunkin.

'It's great to play different countries. I've had to look at an atlas to find out where they are.

'We haven't played any of these before apart from Portugal possibly.'

The Guernsey men's team of Lesbirel, 16-year-old Scott Romeril and 15-year-old Garry Dodd are doing battle in the fourth division.

The draw for their division has yet to take place

Hunkin is quite bullish about his young charges' chances.

'We're in Division Three and Four where we're not playing the likes of China and Sweden,' he said.

'We're playing countries that we could have a sporting chance against. All the best players in the world will be there and it will be an experience for our players to see them play.

'It will be an eye opener.'