2009 Island Magic Touch Doubles
Dorothy and Gordon De Gruchy are the 2009 champions !
This year’s Magic Touch Island Doubles championships were held on 20th June at the new venue of Weighbridge Gardens in perfect weather conditions. The entries were once again increased – by 30% to 24 and there were several new teams, some of whom gave the experienced players a run for their money!
Teams were drawn into 4 groups of 6, thus each team played 5 games in the qualifying section. From each group one team emerged unbeaten and these went into the semi-finals.
Yellow group winners were Tony Morton and Frank Morel; though several teams took them to double points they beat each and had a net +17. After losing their first two games, Helene Retrosi and Michel Morel found their form and won the remaining three.
Dorothy and Gordon De Gruchy (+36) had a very tough first game against Sam Lempriere and Matt Ryan who were competing for the first time in the Island championships and won by 13-12. Sam and Matt went on to win the next 4 games and finished with a creditable +28. Ross Payne and Toby Northern, also new to the competition, won 3 games including a 13-11 defeat of last year’s winners. James Childes and Michael Delahunty (of De La Salle) found the going tough in this green group, but gained one win and valuable experience.
Unbeaten in the White group were Steve Foster and Chris Romeril who had never played together before! Their closest challenge came from Nancy Welsh and Lawrence Rondel (13-12) and their net points were +37. Neil Selby and Chris Pinel won 4 of their 5 games convincingly and only fell to the group winners.
Finally in the Blue group Jeanne and Ken Le Brun triumphed with +17. They had a really close last game against youngsters James Rondel and John Lane whom they finally beat 13-10. Dan Gayet and Brian Corbel and Ian and Penny Foster each took their games against the group winners to 11-13. Runners up in the group were Joan and Dennis Le Mercier who won 4 of 5, finishing with +29.
Chris Romeril and Steve Foster struggled to get into the semi final against Dorothy and Gordon De Gruchy and found themselves 0-9 before taking their first 2 points. However the De Gruchy’s did not allow the comeback to continue and closed out the game 13-3.
In the other semi final Jeanne and Ken Le Brun also took time to settle and Tony Morton and Frank Morel moved into a 6-0 lead. However this time the Le Brun’s worked their way back to level the match and then moved on to win without allowing their opponents another point.
Both teams made good starts in the final with Jeanne and Ken edging ahead to 6-2 after 5 ends. Dorothy and Gordon pulled back to within 2 points before the Le Bruns moved ahead to 9-5. However a loose next end by the leaders was taken advantage of by their opponents and the scores were levelled at 9 all. From here the De Gruchy’s were not going to miss their chance and they went on to become the 2009 Island Doubles champions with a 13-9 win after 11 ends. A very fine final to complete the day’s play.
Lots of photos in the Gallery - take a look!!