Team-mates set up an all-Guersey final
Guernsey clinched three more final places in badminton at Bermuda High School gym, winning men’s doubles and women’s singles semi-final matches as team-mates Elena Johnson and Gayle Lloyd prepare to battle in Friday’s women’s final.Both Johnson, the top seed, and Lloyd took about the same time to dispose of their opponents as Johnson beat Rannvé Djurhuus Carlsson 21-19, 21-19 in 37 minutes and Lloyd took 38 minutes to beat Caroline Gate of Gotland 19-21, 21-13, 21-16.“I played the girl I just played in the team event and she beat me quite convincingly,” said Johnson of her earlier meeting with Djurhuus Carlsson. ”The pressure was on her, having won earlier in the week so I’m very, very pleased to have won.”The all-Guernsey final means that the country will land gold and silver in the women’s singles. “It’s nice that we got each other knowing that we can take gold and silver home to Guernsey, it’s just a question of going out and fighting. I’ll do my best.”Lloyd accepts she is going to have a match on her hands against the number one seed. Ironically, Lloyd is playing with Johnson’s sister Anika against st Johnson and her women’s doubles partner, Sarah Garbutt, in the bronze medal doubles match on Friday.“She’s an awesome player and has played really well to get this far,” said Lloyd of the singles competition. “It’s really great that we’re both in the final and I couldn’t care less what happens in the final, I’m just so happy to get there.”It is turning out to be a good week of badminton for Guernsey who will also be represented in the men’s doubles final where number one seeds Kevin Le Moigne and Paul Le Tocq will meet Greenland’s Bror Madsen and T. Pedersen, the third seeds, in the final.Le Moigne and Le Tocq beat brothers Alex and Eric Navarro Comes of Menorca in a tight match 29-27, 21-19 in 33 minutes, while Madsen and Pedersen needed just 24 minutes to get past Kass Jacobsen and Skaalum Mikkelsen of Faroe Islands 21-13, 21-6.The Navarro Comes brothers took the top seeds to two close games, with the tie-break in the first finally decided after a see-saw battle. “They must have thought they had the second game when they were four or five up but games like that can go on little runs,” said Le Tocq.“We probably didn’t play our best but you just try to do what you think are the right things. And if you’ve got your tactics right then you have to trust that you are going to come good.”Le Tocq is also into the final in the men’s singles against opponent (Benjamin Li) so he has plenty to play for. “A couple of guaranteed silvers but none of these games will be easy,” he admits.“In the men’s singles I’ll be the second favourite and in the men’s doubles they (Greenland) beat us in the team so we’re probably not favourites for either. And we’re still got to play the rounds of the mixed doubles so there could be one more (medal) if we can last that long.”The mixed doubles will start om Thursday morning at 10.30 with 16 matches.