Trevor Lefebvre in action for Jersey against Gotland (00729974)
JERSEY had to settle for the silver medal in the team table tennis event yesterday against red-hot favourites Gotland at the Idrottscenter in Godby.
But it could well have been a first-ever team gold as Jersey led 3-2 with two matches remaining. But it was not to be as they were eventually beaten 4-3.
Coach Clive Hansford, a veteran of Island Games tournaments over the years, was extremely proud of his team and he said they could well have won.
Hansford said: ‘I’m pretty sure that’s the closest we’ve ever come to winning gold; we were 3-2 up with two matches remaining against a really strong team.
‘It’s possibly the closest we’ve ever been to winning; 4-3 was a great score for us and it was a massive improvement from the previous day when Gotland beat us 6-1 in our group.
‘It really was a fantastic day because in the morning we beat Guernsey 4-3 and what a strange game that was. It was a game of opposites as the players I expected to win lost and the ones I thought may struggle in certain games upped their performances and won.
‘Trevor Lefebvre had an excellent last game win against Ollie Langlois to win us the match while Nicola Duke defeated Dawn Morgan for the first time.
‘Against Gotland Trevor was beaten in the first match 3-0 by their number one although it certainly was not a one-sided affair.
‘Nicola was two games up against their leading lady and unfortunately she missed a match point before eventually going down 3-2. Nicola played really well and it was a credit to her for taking her match as far as she did.
‘Craig Gascoyne won our first point after a close 3-1 win against their number two and we then levelled it at two-all when Nicola and Kay Lefebvre combined well to win the ladies’ doubles.
‘Craig came from a game down to put us 3-2 up after beating their number one and then Trevor and Nicola were beaten in the mixed doubles and it was 3-3. It was a match that could have gone either way; we could well have won the gold at that stage but we lost 3-1 with all the games being won by the narrowest margin of two points.
‘The pressure was on Trevor to win the match against their number one but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately Trevor could not raise it for the decider but he shouldn’t be disappointed because it was he who got us to the final in the first place with his last-match win against Guernsey.’
Following Jersey’s win against Guernsey, Jersey Table Tennis Association president Chris Band said: ‘That’s the finest Jersey team performance I’ve seen since I became president; it was a fantastic win and an absolutely awesome display from everyone.
‘Trevor [Lefebvre] played the anchor role brilliantly; it was always going to be a tough ask for him because he was up against Ollie [Langlois] because Ollie was in form as he had a great win in the opening game against Craig [Gascoyne]. Trevor knew what was on the line for the team and he certainly delivered.’
Band said that Gotland have two Swedish first division players in their team and with one being male and the other female that makes their team extremely difficult to beat.
Well, it nearly came off in the final … but not quite.
Jersey 3, Gotland 4 (Jersey named first): T Lefebvre 0, Hakan Ahlgren 3. Duke 2, Evelina Carlsson 3. Gascoyne 3, Johan Eriksson 1. Duke and Kay Lefebvre 3, Carlsson, Elin Schwartz 1. Gascoyne 3, Ahlgren 1. T Lefebvre, Duke 1, Eriksson, Carlsson 3. T Le Febvre 0, Eriksson 3.
Jersey 4, Guernsey 3: Gascoyne 1, Ollie Langlois 3. Duke 3, Dawn Morgan 2. T Lefebvre 0, Garry Dodd 3. Duke, K Lefebvre 3, Morgan, Kay Chivers 0. Gascoyne 3, Garry Dodd 0. Gascoyne, K Lefebvre 0, Dodd, Morgan 3. T Lefebvre 3, Langlois 2.
Article posted on 1st July, 2009 - 12.26pm
