On Friday the 9th November the England team of Gavin Evans, David McBeath, Hannah Hicks and Karina Le Fevre travelled out to Guernsey for the annual 6 Nations event. The coaches in attendance were Paul Whiting and Stephen Gertsen.
The team event consisted of a round robin event and was played over the Friday night and Saturday with singles taking place on the Sunday.
Womens team event
The women won silver in the team event with wins over Guernsey, Jersey, Scotland and Wales. They fell to Ireland in the final match with Olympian Liu Na proving the difference. Na won her two singles convincingly leaving the doubles match crucial in terms of the title for England as they lost 13-11 in the fifth set. Overall the women gave a good account of themselves with Hicks only losing one singles match and Fevre losing two in the team competition. After having match points in the doubles, it could have been a different outcome on another day but congratulations to Ireland on their success.
Results:
England 3-2 Guensey
Hannah Hicks bt Dawn Morgan 3-0
Alice Loveridge bt Karina Le Fevre 2-3
Guernsey won doubles 3-2
Hannah Hicks bt Alice Loveridge 3-1
Karina Le Fevre bt Dawn Morgan 3-0
England 3-0 Jersey
Hannah Hicks bt Kelsey Le Maistre 3-0
Karina Le Fevre bt Vicky Barnes 3-0
England won doubles 3-0
England 3-0 Scotland
Karina Le Fevre bt Gillian Edwards 3-0
Hannah Hicks bt Corina Whittaker 3-0
England won doubles 3-0
England 3-0 Wales
Hannah Hicks bt Nicole Hall 3-1
Karina Le Fevre bt Angharad Phillips 3-1
England won doubles 3-0
Ireland 3-1 England
Hannah Hicks bt Ashley Givan 3-0
Na Liu bt Karina Le Fevre 3-0
Ireland won doubles 3-2
Na Liu bt Hannah Hicks 3-0
Mens Team Event
In the mens team event Gavin Evans and David McBeath strated off on Friday afternoon with two convincing 3-0 wins against hosts Guernsey and Jersey.
Saturday morning England faced Scotland and started off in the same vein with McBeath getting England off to a flying start with an excellent 3-0 win against Craig Howieson. Another solid performance by Evans and a doubles win led to another 3-0 victory.
England then had a stutter against Wales as Dan O’Connell got the better of Evans to give Wales a 1-0 lead. From there on England took control of the match and ran out 3-1 winners.
The final match of the team event was against Ireland who had also won all of their matches for the gold medal. Paul McCreery got Ireland off to a good start with a 3-0 win against McBeath before Evans levelled it with a 3-1 win against Gavin Maguire. The doubles was crucial with England winning a tough five-game battle. With the scrore at 2-1 to England, Evans stepped up with an excellent performance. From 5 – 2 down in the fifth to beat McCreery 3-2 and seal the gold medal for England men.
Results:
England 3-0 Guensey
Gavin Evans bt Scott Romeril 3-0
David McBeath bt Garry Dodds 3-0
England won doubles 3 – 1
England 3-0 Jersey
David McBeath bt Max Tupper 3-0
Gavin Evans bt Craig Gascoyne 3-0
England won doubles 3-0
England 3-0 Scotland
David McBeath bt Craig Howieson 3-0
Gavin Evans bt Sean Doherty 3-0
England won doubles 3-1
England 3-1 Wales
Daniel O’Connell bt Gavin Evans 3-1
David McBeath bt Dean Cundy 3-0
England won doubles 3 – 1
Gavin Evans bt Dean Cundy 3-0
England 3-1 Ireland
Paul McCreery bt David McBeath 3-0
Gavin Evans bt Gavin Maguire 3-1
England won doubles 3-2
Gavin Evans bt Paul McCreery 3-2
Women’s Singles
In the group stages Le Fevre progressed as group winner with strong performances against Corrina Whittaker of Scotland and Ashley Givan of Ireland. Hicks also progressed comfortably with a good show against Angharad Phillips of Wales winning 3-0.
In the quarter-final stage Le Fevre never got into her stride against Gillian Edwards of Scotland and was knocked out. Hicks continued to progress with another solid performance against Nicole Hall of Wales with a comfortable victory in three games.
Hicks was drawn against Loveridge in the semi-final stage who she had already beaten in the team event. Hicks never really got going in this match and was knocked out by the home favourite Loveridge and had to settle for a bronze medal.
Mens’s Singles
David McBeath only had one match in the group stages against John Murphy (Ire) which he won 3-0 to put him into the last eight.
Gavin Evans started his group matches with a 3-0 win over Max Tupper (Jer). He then faced Dan O’Connell who he lost to in the team event on Saturday. This time Gavin made no mistakes with a 3-0 win. It took five sets for Gavin to beat Gavin Maguire (Ire) to win the group.
In the quarter-finals McBeath beat Doherty (Sco) 3-0 and Gavin beat Murphy (Ire) 3-1.
The English boys then seemed to reach another level as they both dispatched their semi-final opponents 3-0. McBeath beating Maguire (Ire) and Evans beating McCreery (Ire).
This led to an all-England final of high level table tennis with Gavin coming out on top 3-1, leaving the men with a clean sweep of titles with gold in the team and gold and silver in the singles.