Stacey boys mix it with superkids

THE Stacey twins represented Guernsey at the recent Eurokids table tennis camp in Malta.

For five days 12-year-olds Joshua and Lawrence Stacey rubbed shoulders with the best under-13 players in Europe.

The European countries represented at the camp included Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Israel and Turkey.

Leading international coach Aleksey Yefremov of Belarus, who was until recently India's Commonwealth Games team head coach, ran the camp.

Now in its ninth year, Eurokids aims to improve both the mental and technical skills of the sport alongside encouraging international interaction between attending players.

'Over the past five years, the Guernsey Table Tennis Association with the substantial benefit of the Deutsche Bank junior development programme, have now been able to raise the playing standard required to attend these camps on a regular basis,' said GTTA president Derek Webb.

'The association is now becoming a recognised participant within the European network.'