French learning experience

ALICE LOVERIDGE and Garry Dodd led a Guernsey contingent of six as they started their World Championship table tennis campaigns in Paris yesterday.

The event, which sees in excess of 500 players from across the globe compete, also features Adam Langlois, Matt Stubbington, Dawn Morgan and Beth Priest.

All the Sarnian players were in singles and doubles action yesterday, with the group stages in the singles event used as a qualification ahead of the main knockout stages.

On paper, Loveridge looked to be Guernsey's best hopes of progression, as the world number 423 was seeded in her group, taking on Anna Kiritchenko (852) and Batkhishig Batsaikhan (1,313).

Across in the men's singles event, Dodd, world-ranked 1,678, faces a tough task after being drawn against Marco Navas (442) and Heber Moscoso (669), from Venezuela and Guatemala respectively.