England’s VETTS team swept the board in the team competitions and added a haul of individual medals at the Home Nations Championships in Guernsey.
Among the English champions, Hurey Ahmetoglu, Jason Ramage, Phil Bowen, Tim Dyson and Barry Hill all won three gold medals.
The competition featured teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Jersey and Isle of Man, as well as the hosts Guernsey.
It began with the team competitions, and England swept all seven categories, including Ahmetoglu and Jo Keighley taking the O40 Women’s competition, ahead of compatriots Tumay Ekrem and Sarah Horsnell, who won silver.
Ramage and team-mate Andy Wilkinson completed the O40 sweep by taking the corresponding men’s competition.
In the O50 Men’s Team, Darren Griffin and Ritchie Venner won every one of their six matches 5-0 to take gold. The corresponding women’s event was won by Miche Reeves and Debby Auvache.
The O60 Mixed team went the way of Dyson, Diccon Gray and Christine Wicks, while the O70 Men’s was won by Bowen and Gary Baldwin and the O75 Men’s by Hill and Stuart Seaholme.
In the individual events, Ahmetoglu completed her clean sweep of the O40 Women’s section by taking the singles and, alongside Ekrem, the round-robin doubles. They beat Keighley & Horsnell 3-0 (13-11, 11-3, 11-8) in the key match.
In the singles, also round-robin, Ahmetoglu won all three of her matches. Silver went to Bhanu Sabaranam of Wales, who denied Horsnell a medal with a 3-2 (6-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 13-11) victory. No bronze medals were awarded at the event.
Ramage & Wilkinson beat Mike Marsden & Danny Harris of Wales 3-1 (9-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4) in the final of the O40 Men’s Doubles. They had met in the group stage, when the Welsh pair won 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 14-16, 11-8, 11-9).
Wilkinson was unable to make it a golden hat-trick as he was defeated 3-1 (14-12, 11-5, 6-11, 11-5 by Marsden in the singles final. Marsden also beat Wilkinson 13-11 in the fifth in the group stage.
In the O50 Women’s Singles, winner Keighley beat Ekrem 3-2 (11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7) in final. Ekrem earlier came from 2-0 down to beat Melissa Cheung of Scotland in the semis.
The O50 Men’s Doubles saw Griffin & Venner beat Colin Greene & Brian Wright of Scotland 3-2 (11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7) in the final.
In the singles, Ramage beat Venner 3-2 (11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 11-2, 11-8) to take gold. Ramage had overcome Griffin in three in the semi-finals.
The round-robin O60 Women’s Doubles was won by Dawn Morgan & Kay Chivers of Guernsey with Auvache & Wicks of England second – it was 12-10, 11-6, 12-10 in the meeting between the top two pairs.
In the singles, Morgan beat Auvache of 3-0 (9, 9, 5) in the final. Auvache had beaten Wicks 3-1 (11-13, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6) in the semi-finals.
The O60 Men’s competitions saw a double gold for Dyson, who teamed up with Gray to win 3-1 (10-12, 13-11, 11-1, 11-2) in the final against Welch pair John Hook & Jeff Rigby, and beat Gray in the singles final by a scoreline of 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4).
Bowen also took a double in the O70 Men’s events. Alongside Baldwin, the English pair defeated Barry Dickson & Brian Finn of Ireland 3-0 (16-14, 13-11, 11-6) in the final. In the singles, Bowen won gold with a 3-1 (11-6, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5) win over Dickson. Baldwin was knocked out in five by Bowen in the quarter-finals – (11-3, 14-12, 2-11, 5-11, 11-6).
Hill completed his haul of medals in the O75 Men’s category. He & Seaholme won 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-1) against Colin Price & Dennis Bromage of Wales in the doubles, and Hill overcame Geoff Salter of Scotland 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-6) in the singles – he had earlier beaten Seaholme 3-1 (11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 13-11) in the semi-finals.
