DESPITE travelling thousands of miles to China, Jersey’s first match in the Table Tennis World Team Championships was against Guernsey this morning and the Sarnians won 3-1.
Craig Gascoyne got the Jersey side, playing in Division IV, off to a promising start with a 3-0 win over Scott Romeril.
He started quickly, and strongly, to win the first game 11-5.
The second game was closer, with Romeril returning better and pouncing on any loose balls, but 25-year-old Gascoyne edged the game 13-11 and won the third 11-5 with some excellent forehands to secure the overall win.
Jersey’s No 2, Josh Band (14) lost his match against Guernsey’s No 1, Garry Dodd, 3-0.
A nervous Band settled well and was 7-4 up in the first game, with some exquisite shots wrong footing his more experienced opponent, but Dodd came back strongly to win the opener 11-8.
Dodd took the second 11-5 with some powerful loops and in the third Band again was three points to the good before Dodd responded to take the game 11-9.
Chris Corfield (17) started brightly for Jersey against Olly Langlois with some good chopping causing the opposition some problems.
However, Langlois’ attacking style kept Corfield on the defensive and the Guernsey player won 11-8, 11-5, 11-5.
The pressure increased from this point as Gascoyne needed to beat Dodd to keep the match alive.
Dodd, having lost to the Jersey player in the recent Top 12 event and the last inter-insular, took his revenge with a performance both sides recognised as one of his finest for a 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 12-10) win.
Gascoyne conceded after the match that ‘Dodd played extremely well and deserved to win’, while sports scientist David Sutton said: ‘Josh and Chris were obviously very nervous but this is behind them now and they can move on with confidence to their next match.’
