IOW DAY ONE ROUND UP

The difficulties facing a small country, which has the temerity to engage in sporting competitions against islands with larger populations are many and obvious. Some of the 24 islands represented at the Nat West Island Games may be small in size, but part of much larger countries with developed sporting traditions and facilities.

For countries like the Falklands or Saint Helena, however, each contest puts their competitors in a “mouse that roared” situation, requiring tough nerves and unwavering self belief. Both of these qualities were much in evidence from the Falkland Islands badminton and football teams whose first events of the games followed the Half Marathon.

Badminton is particularly gladiatorial in nature, particularly in the singles competition and defeat can be crushing because of the personal, one to one, or two against two nature of the game. In the first round of the team competition, our team which contains a high percentage of young players, found themselves pitted against very strong opposition from Guernsey in the morning and Minorca in the afternoon.

While the results might indicate failure, such a reading disguises the many positives which the team can take into the future
play-off rounds. Badminton coach, Rebecca Pantannay has described a reasonable ambition for the Falkland Islands team as being “simply to win a match.” This was nearly achieved by the top seeded women's doubles partnership of Anna Luxton and Jo Turner, who lost their first game against a Menorcan pair by a creditable 13 to 21 then went on in their second game to be leaders at the half-way mark, only losing 19 to 21 after a nail-biting see-saw battle in which they came back in a final point surge from 14 to 17.

Men's doubles partners, Michael Brownlee and Dominic Jaffray, also finished strongly in a second game in which for most of the first half they were within two points of their Menorcan opposition, only letting them get away to win 21 to 12 when they were at 13 to 11. Dominic, at sixteen years old, was aggressive to the end and did not seem at all overawed by the experience. With his agility and touch, both in defence and attack, he will be a future force to be reckoned with.

The day's sporting activities concluded with a football match between the Falkland Islands and Guernsey on a beautiful summer evening at the Brading football ground. Having conceded one goal in the first half, after a rebound from a fine save by keeper Ben Hoyle gave their opponents a second opportunity, the Falklands team looked to be in contention when the second half began. Gradually, however, despite spirited defence and some more excellent saves by the keeper, the superior fitness and skill of a side which plays together on a more or less daily basis proved too much for our boys, who had nevertheless kept the score to a reasonable three-nil, until in a brief but fatal period towards the end of the second half, the Guernsey side scored two more in the space of about five minutes. The final score of 5-0 was clearly a disappointment to our team and does not fairly represent the general run of play in which the Falkland Islands had some good chances at goal, including a long-range shot from Rafael Sotomayor, which sadly screamed over the cross bar.

The die hard spirit of the Falklands team was typified by youngster Josh Peck, who was awarded the prestigious title of man of the match for his impressive defensive skills demonstrated in the second half. The future of Falklands football looks bright, with talented young players like Josh moving through the ranks.

The best news of a long day came from golfer Kevin Clapp who achieved the dream of a hole-in-one on the fifth hole at the Sandown golf course today. Sadly this was only during a practice round but will have lifted his confidence as well as maybe lightening his wallet, if he had to pay the traditional forfeit at the 19^th hole.

Tomorrow will see lone swimmer Sorrel Pompert-Robertson compete in the 50 metres breaststroke, the badminton team play-offs which could prove an exciting prospect, the football team will face their old adversaries the Isle of Mann, and the clay pigeon team will take to the stands for a long days shooting.

For full results of all of the events held at the Isle of Wight click here.