TEENAGE table tennis sensation Hannah Silcock continued to show her promise when she became the first person from Jersey since Kay Lefebvre in 2006 to pick up the Channel Islands women’s title – before jetting off to participate in the World Table Tennis Youth Contender in Austria.
Silcock, who will be representing Jersey in this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, beat Guernsey’s Chloe Le Tissier, niece of former professional footballer Matt Le Tissier, in four straight games. She also picked up U15 and U18 girls’ titles, beating Charlotte Dicker and Shelby Timms respectively, again in four straight sets, as well as the senior mixed doubles title with Leon Pierre, having beaten Garry Dodd and Carly Tucknott in a closely-fought 4-3 win.
She then teamed up with Pierre again to win the U18 mixed doubles title 4-0 over Caden Brouard and Jayden Tucknott, before pairing up with sister Kathryn to win the women’s doubles final 4-1 against Kay Chivers and Marli Barker.
After making the journey to Austria, the JCG student then made it to the last 32 in the U15 Girls’ singles event in Linz, eventually losing to India’s talented Hansini Mathan 3-0. Mathan would later win the U13 Girls’ singles title.
In getting that far, Silcock beat Austria’s Vanessa Tang and Ukraine’s Sofiia Chumarna in three straight games to qualify from Group 21, before beating Kazakhstan’s Alissa Tsvigun 3-2 in the round of 64.
Back in Guernsey, Dodd picked up the Channel Islands men’s title for the home island, beating Mariusz Cieminski 4-0 in the final, but the tournament was otherwise dominated by Jersey, who won 17 of the 20 events.
Jersey’s Rafal Jedrasik beat Paul Hainsworth 4-0 in the Restricted final, Gregorz Frankowski beat Phil Ogier 4-1 in the Over-40s final and Eugene Ellis fought back from three games down to win 4-3 over Jez Powell in the O50s title, the same scoreline as his victory over Mark Pipet to claim the O60s title.
Pierre would also pick up two more titles in his name, including the U21 and U18 titles, beating Dan Collenette (4-1) and Brouard (4-0) respectively.
Cieminski and Frankowski would team up to win the Men’s Doubles title, beating the Stacey brothers, Josh and Lawrence, 4-2 in the final.
John Le Fondré beat Seb Jennings 4-0 to win the U15 boys’ title with William Cornthwaite winning the U13 boys’ title, beating Oskar Cleal in a close match 4-3, while Oskar Karwowski beat Aiden Ozanne 4-0 in the U11 boys’ final to complete the Caesarean dominance.
Meanwhile, Frank Bougard made his first appearance in 23 years, but lost 4-0 to Derek Webb in the O70s final, while Chivers sealed the Sarnians’ third title when she beat Irene Billet-Masters 4-0 in the women’s veterans final.
