Dorey vows to be back stronger

GUERNSEY'S world under-25 singles title dreams were crushed on Saturday by cruel tournament rules, a familiar face from across the water in Jersey and a Malaysian. Craig Dorey and Lianna Bichard were both defeated in the semi-finals of the singles at the Guernsey Bowls Stadium and Dorey also had to face up to losing the final of the drawn mixed pairs in which he was partnered by Nor Iryani Azmi from Malaysia.

It was plain to see that the 23-year-old Dorey was massively disappointed with the results, but he put a brave face on it all.

'Overall I'm pleased as I got to the semi-finals in each and the final of the pairs,' he said.

'If you had said to me I'd be in the two semi-finals of each, I'd have taken it. The worst two games I played all week were the final and the semi.

'I'm disappointed I lost but I got there. No other Guernsey bowler has got this far.

'Next year I'll go further in both.'

Dorey's singles semi-final defeat came at the hands of Safuan Said, who was in inspired form. It seemed that Said had an answer to everything Dorey threw down.

The Mayalsian took the tight first set 7-5 and he proceeded to take the second 7-2.

The other semi-final went to England's Jamie Chestney after he came from behind to beat David Axon from Wales.

'We were quite close but he out-drew me,' said Dorey.

'He just outdrew everything I put close, simple as that. He was fantastic.

'He's something else and he is a heck of a nice bloke on and off the pitch.'

In the mixed pairs finals earlier in the day, Axon got to taste success when he and Lucy Beere from England were the victors over Dorey and Azmi.

In a close match a tiebreak was needed to decide the outcome after Axon and Beere took the first set 11-4. Dorey and Azmi bounced back to win the second 7-6 before losing the decider 2-0.

'It was a good game to watch I suppose,' said Dorey.

'Nor Iryani was awesome and unfortunately I couldn't help her out. She was the only one to play out of the two us.'

At the start of the day, Bichard had looked on for a place in the women's singles final when she trounced her great rival from Jersey, Lindsey Greechan, 13-0 in the first set of their semi-final.

Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, she could not keep up the pressure as Greechan won the second 9-6 and then the tiebreak 2-1.

'It's weird that the sets work out like that,' said Bichard.

'It's a subconscious thing or something. It always changes in the second set.

'You can't keep the scoring up.

'I felt I was playing a good enough game and it was only three adrift in the second set.

'It's kind of cruel when you're on the losing end of a tiebreak because it's a lottery.'

The other semi-final was a battle of the Welsh twins as Kerry Packwood got the better of her sister, Kelly.