Day Two of Banded events at the 6th NatWest Jersey Open Table Tennis Grand Prix Tournament.
Local players were to the fore on the second day of competition at the 6th NatWest Jersey Open and attracted an absolutely packed audience of holidaymakers and locals who were royally entertained with some superb matches.
Leading the Jersey charge for honours was 18-year-old Josh Band who was in imperious form limbering up for his next ITTF Pro Tour event at the Spanish Open by winning Men’s Band 4 and then claiming the runner-up spot in Band 3 for good measure. He had some stand out performances in winning his group in Band 4 and then despatched Max Tupper 3-1 in the first knockout round followed by Paul Payen (Kent) 3-0 to make the final where he defeated Hugo Tupper 3-0 .
He also won his group in Band 3 with more impressive wins against higher ranked UK opposition notably the No.2 seed Chris Parker from Yorkshire 3-0 and Dean Rose from Kent and then beat Payen for the second time to make his consecutive final before bowing out to the mercurial Danny Lawrence also from Kent [England No.11 Under 18] in three close games.
Hugo Tupper won Men’s Band 5 confirming his No.1 seeding in this discipline beating Alan Taylor from Kent [the No.2 seed] in the final, (following some excellent play en route in the group stage and the early knockout rounds), and was also runner-up in Band 4 to Josh Band. Fifteen-year-old Chris Morshead continued his good chopping form by winning Band 6 in another all Jersey final beating Matthieu Fisher 3-0 after negotiating his group as winner and then two knockout round wins against locals Jack Messervy and Tom Marsay.
Men’s Band 2 was a straight final between Danny Lawrence and Chris Parker with Lawrence getting the verdict 3-1 helped by his greater firepower countering Parker’s heavily topspun backhands.
Men’s Band 1 was a round robin from which Lancashire’s popular Victor Guang Shi emerged victorious with Durham’s Mike Marsden in runner-up slot. Garry Dodd from Guernsey was a disappointing fourth behind Derbyshire’s David Arrowsmith despite beating the eventual winner in the final match.
Jersey also celebrated success in the Women’s Banded groups with Sofia Uddnas coming runner up to Yorkshire’s Sandra Rider in a six lady round robin for the Women’s Band 3 title.
Women’s Band 2 saw Sue Collier from Cheshire [England No.1 Ladies Vett] confirm her status by winning her group at a canter and then beating Uddnas before meeting Jane Vickers from Derbyshire in the final. Collier was focused throughout the final and forced errors from her talented opponent to claim the title 3-0.
The Vicker’s family honour was restored in Women’s Band 1 though as England No.4 Emma exacted a 3-1 win over Collier with rasping angled winning shots that had the Cheshire Comedienne commenting, “Taxi for Collier!!”