| Channel Islands International Championships 2009 |
To view the photos of the event
The C I International and the C I Championships where held at Planet Pool and Snooker from Thursday to Sunday.
The Championships started on the Thursday. With men’s singles, ladies singles and a doubles event. The ladies as is normally the case were a low entry. It was won by the hot fav Linda Maider. She beat Eilish Walsh and Jersey Capt. Christelle Le Toullec on the way to the final. Her opponent was C I international player Sharon Shaw, who beat fellow international player Lisa McClelland. It was a closer result than expected, but Maider won the event for the 4th time 3 frames to 2.
She also won the C I Inter ladies singles as well, this is her third win in the event over the last 10 years. She beat Kirsten Chanock 4-1, Sammie Hodge 4-2 and in the semis Hayley marks 4-2. Debs Chudley was her opponent in the final, she defeated Claire McKewon 4-0, A previous winner Jo Coulson 4-2 and Rachael Chander from Guernsey 4-2 on her way to the final. Maider did what she does best in the final, potting balls on her way to a 4-2 win
The C I Doubles was another win for Guernsey as former juniors Craig De Carteret and Darren Hughes beat Mark Shaw and an under the weather John Austic 3-0 in the final
The C I men’s singles had 37 entries this year. 7 players from Guernsey made the trip across. But it was a Portuguese player Ricardo Varella who eventually took the crown. Ricardo has over the last years been very close to reaching his first major final, having been a semi finalist in many of those years, and also in the CI Inter singles. On his way to the final he defeated John Allerdice 5-0, Ady Murphy5 -4, Craig De Carteret from Guernsey also 5-4 and in the SF he beat Jersey stalwart Andy Stentiford by another 5 -4 score line
His opponent in the final was young Josh Hinds. Hinds was a junior 2 years ago . He was part of the junior set up for nearly 7 years. On his way to the final he beat Jamie De Caires 5-3, Shane Allnet from Guernsey 5-1, Craig Cullinane 5-3 and in the semis Tony Fernandes 5-1. The final was a race to 6. Varella led all the way, and was at one point 5-1 ahead. Hinds won 3 on the trot, but was not enough as Varella won the next frame for his first major title in a 6-4 win
The men’s C I International singles event had 51 entries, most def the most prestigious singles event in the Channel Islands. Morray Dolan a guest player for the Belgium team, and a professional player, was the hot fav for the event
He reached the SF as he beat Ali Gilliand 5-1, Darren Hughes (Guernsey) 5-2, David Garot (Belgium) -1 and Ashley Perriam (G) 5-3. His opponent in the SF was Jersey Capt. Ady Bougourd. Bougourd has won many titles in his time, but never the C I Inter. Dolan was too strong for him on the day as he won 6-2 to reach the final. His opponent would be young Jess De la Haye from Guernsey, and yet another player to come up through the juniors. On his way to this major final he beat along the way, Tony Fernandes (Portugal) 5-0, Richard Sutton (G) 5-1, Island team mate Mick Le Nourey 5-4, and in the semi final the ever impressive Johan Depoorter from Belgium. Depoorter was in his third SF in three years in this event. It was to be third time unlucky for the Belgium player as De La Haye beat him 6-3 to reach yet another final for the young Guernsey man.
It was a rather one sided affair as Dolan won the first frames. He should really have won the 6th frame, but missed an easy ball to let De La Haye win. But it was normal service in the next frame as Dolan won it, and secured hid first CI Inter win, and with a promise to come back next year to defend his title, he could possibly emulate Keith Brewer who won it 4 years in succession