Sixth Whistlers Open crown for Dodd

GARRY DODD claimed his sixth Whistlers Open title at the GTTA Centre at Hougue du Pommier with a 3-1 victory over Josh Butler in the final.

In a tournament that has had three different winners in the last three years there were a number of strong contenders for the trophy, including top seed Dodd, former island champions Phil Ogier and Josh Butler, as well as Josh and Lawrence Stacey, who have both had strong starts to the league season.

In the final, Butler rose to the challenge against his former team-mate and attacked the Dodd serve early on and forced the island champion back from the table on numerous occasions.

Butler was varying the pace of the ball to good effect and started to disrupt Dodd's rhythm.

However, with the match finely poised at one game all, Dodd upped the ante and counter-attacked, stopping Butler from dictating the pace of play and unleashing some ferocious backhand winners.

He took the final two games 11-5, 11-4 to seal his second open tournament win of the season.

• Full report in Thursday's Guernsey Press.