JERSEY’S young table tennis squad have finished 98th at the World Championships held in Guangzhou, China.

Senior player Craig Gascoyne and teenagers Luke Walker, Chris Corfield and Josh Band were beaten 3-1 by Kosovo in their final match over the weekend playing for positions 97 and 98.

Jersey agreed to bring their match forward to accommodate Kosovo’s lunch-time departure and the games were played simultaneously on three tables. Despite a supreme effort from 15-year-old Walker, with many good attacking shots, he was beaten 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 by Besart Domaniku.

Corfield had a titanic struggle against Jeton Beqiri and his chopping often caused his opponent to return his serve into the net. Beqiri won the first two games 11-9, 11-9, with Corfield unlucky not to have won both. Beqiri finally came to terms with Corfield’s spin to win the third 11-6 and the match 3-0.

Gascoyne had an amazing match against Betim Sejdiu, winning the first 11-8 before losing the next two 11-6, 11-7 after falling foul to some excellent defensive play. Gascoyne was two match-points down in the fourth before he hit four clear winners to level the match at two-all after winning 12-10.

Trailing 10-7 in the decider, Gascoyne again showed fantastic mental toughness to win the game 12-10 and the match 3-2.

With the overall match score 2-1 to Kosovo, Walker and Gascoyne returned to the table to play the reverse singles against Sejdiu and Domaniku respectively. Both Jersey players fell foul to the impressive and measured blocking and defensive shots of their opponents, Walker losing 11-8, 11-5 and 14-12.

With the match now effectively over, Gascoyne continued his dead rubber losing 3-1 after winning the first game 11-7.

Jersey Table Tennis Association president Chris Band said: ‘We were happy to bring the game forward against kosovo. We could have declined and taken the all-important ranking points, but that would not have been in the spirit of the game.

‘We have presented a small Jersey flag to everyone we have played and they have been well received. Kosovo were so touched by our changing the match time and their gift that they have said they will look at coming to Jersey in the future.

‘It’s been a wonderful championship and the team have played brilliantly. We look forward to the next team championship. Many of the delegations we have met were full of praise for our young team and they have said they would not want to be drawn against them in two years’ time.’

The Jersey team have been supported by Barclays Wealth, CPA Ltd, Barringtons, Light & Shade, HLB Jackson Fox, Trustcorp Ltd, M J Plant Hire and Getronics (China).