Guernsey’s best padel players are heading to the UK to compete in the finals of the National Padel Club League (Division Two).
In the first year of this event, it is an impressive achievement to make the finals, where the winning team will gain automatic promotion to Division One for 2023.
Matt De La Mare, Patrick Ogier, Rob West and Jon Young form Guernsey’s Men’s first team and will represent the Baliwick at the weekend. They won the initial round held in Jersey in May to qualify for play-offs which were held in London in June. Victory there led to their qualification for the finals. The team will head to the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton this weekend to try to gain promotion to Division One.
The finals feature two round robin groups, with Guernsey having been drawn into a group with Middlesborough, West Hants and East Glos. The top two teams in each group will progress to the semi final knockout stage of the competition which will be played on Sunday. The second group contains Montrose, Rocks Lane (Chiswick) and David Lloyd Bushey.
Rob West said “It’s a great effort from the team to make it to the final. We have had to face some tough competition in the early rounds and it won’t be easy to win at the weekend. However, we are all playing well and we are confident we will be able to play our best and hopefully secure a spot in Division One for next season.
“It has been a great experience just to be able to get out and compete against other clubs, particularly after being unable to travel due to Covid, and to see where our island level lies within the whole of the UK. To now have the opportunity to play against some of the best Clubs in the country will only help to improve our level, and we hope we can secure the win for Guernsey”
The Team are extremely grateful to Guernsey Padel Club, Naftel Associates and SJ Builders who have funded their travel and expenses to enable them to compete and represent the island on the UK stage.
