Mike Quénault and Dave Ward who won silver in the 50 metre Free Pistol shooting event

TWO bronze and one silver medal put Jersey eighth in the medals table after the first day of Island Games competition in Aland, some way behind leaders Gotland, but ahead of old rivals Guernsey.

Fittingly, flag bearer and Island Games hero Dave Ward opened the medal winning with team-mate Mick Quénault, scoring 980 in the 50m free pistol team event for a silver medal.

The athletics team also produced two medals with Jason Fox clearing 2.03m for a bronze medal in the high jump and Daniel Halksworth smashing his PB for a bronze medal in the 10,000m while Paul Derrien was sixth in the hammer final with 43.54m.

With only a handful of finals yesterday, the focus was on the heats and flying through the 100m were Jenna Murphy, who also continued to the final of the long jump, and Helen Butler, while Ben Silva progressed in the 200m, and Felicity Johnson-Deeley and Liz Murfin in the 1,500m.

Jersey’s female footballers were, sadly, no match for Gotland, who were already 2-0 up at the break, and finished the game 5-1. The men, meanwhile, got off to an all-important winning start – recently-crowned Footballer of the Year Mark Lucas put the Island XI 1-0 up after ten minutes, seeing off Saaremaa as intended. Still, there’s no room for complacency, as the team come up against a strong Rhodes side today, and will face the Isle of Wight in a possible decider on Tuesday.

The men’s tennis team lost out to Menorca 3-0 while the ladies progressed to the semi-finals with a 2-0 win over fourth seeds the Isle of Man.

They now find themselves against the favourites Menorca with a win putting them into the final and a loss into the bronze medal play off.

There was landslide victory for Jersey’s table tennis team, who won all seven of their opening games against Saaremaa and then also took the win against the Isle of Wight 5-2 thanks to two singles victories for Trevor Lefevbre and Craig Gascoyne and a doubles win for Kay Lefevbre and Nicola Duke.

They take on Gotland, Menorca and Aland today and will hope to continue their unbeaten record.

Justin Horton lies ninth overall in the individual windsurfing event with two 11th place finishes in the first two races while Michael Miller is tenth thanks to a third place finish in the second race – a good recovery following no result in the first race when he was deemed to be on course side at the start.

Chris Le Masurier is 11th following a 16th and a tenth while Steve Melia is 18th having claimed 13th in the first race but did not finish the second.

Robert Ogley was Jersey’s best performer in the judo as he reached the semi-final of the repercharge in the U73 kg category. Mike Bisson was knocked out of the U60 kg events in quick succession while Alain Baudains featured in three rounds of the +100 kg.

Team-mate André Blaby didn’t fare as well after he was forced to withdraw with a shoulder injury needing medical attention.

The volleyball players struggled in their opening round matches, although their opposition was nothing they weren’t prepared for – Jersey’s men played hard but suffered 3-1 at the hands of Greenland, and with tougher games to come, that could well put an end to their medal hopes.

Still, they are keen to play on for fifth and sixth place, while the ladies, despite opening their campaign with a loss to their toughest opposition, are confident they can overcome a 3-0 defeat by the Faroe Islands and challenge for a coveted semi-final place… and Jersey volleyball’s first ever Island Games medal.

Badminton had a very strange day indeed – in their team competition they launched optimistically against Menorca, an unknown quantity, but were beaten 3-2 and lost a crucial player, Gavin Carter, to a back injury. They were without Carter for a tough test against the Faroe Islands, which they lost 4-1, and the chances of them reaching today’s final were very slim indeed.

In fact, team manager Ian Coombs-Goodfellow had all but given up hope, until Carter returned to the fore, Jersey thrashed Guernsey, and our Island side were declared second in the group on countback, sending them into the final. Hurrah!

The seamen were nautically challenged at Mariehamn’s sailing base, in 25 degree heat and light winds, forcing young Team GB sailor David Putt out of the Laser radial race two.

David Carter however, performed almost perfectly to achieve two fourth places and a third place overall, while Jeff Speller scored a 16th in the afternoon’s standard rig and Martin Speller sailed from last place in the afternoon’s standard rig to finish seventh in race one, 14th in race two and seventh overall.