A record number of 25 contested the Doubles competition in 4 blocks, with semi finals played between the winners of Block A – the Kele Crew ( Cheryl & Steve ) 10 defeating
Redcliffe Three (Alan James & Crystal Carling) 8. The winners of Block C Canberra Whiteheads (Glen & Kristina) 18 defeating Redcliffe One (Geoff Morris & Paul Ekeberg) 6.

The final between Kele Crew and Canberra Whiteheads was a game of cat and mouse strategy with victory to the Canberra Whiteheads 14 points to 7.

After the match, Steve Kele conceded they had more to learn from this couple with their 20 years experience and had thoroughly enjoyed the competition.

An emotional Glen Whitehead dedicated the trophy to fellow Canberra CC Gateball player Andrew Davies. Andrew suffered a heart attack during the first round of the Doubles on Friday morning and died in the Albury Hospital.

Around noon on Saturday, Justin Clancy, MLA for Albury and son Xavier, hit balls through a gate to open the Tournament. 13 teams contested the Clare & Ken Poole Teams trophy in 2 blocks. Players in both Canberra teams wore black arm bands to remember their team mate.

In the Sunday semi finals matches, Hazelbrook were defeated by the Macs (combined team from Toronto and Epping) 12 – 10 and Kew defeated the Canberra Sparkers 15 points to 7. Around 50 people cheered on players in the final, with winners Kew defeating the Macs 14 to 9. 

In accepting the trophy from CNSW Board Member Rosie Landrebe, Philip Brown. the Kew Captain, thanked people for the organisation of a successful tournament under trying conditions and reminded everyone to treasure the friends they have made playing Gateball.

The host team, River Gateball, was awarded the trophy for the best new team

The event had faced many challenges. With three days to go a number of teams had to withdraw. Their withdrawal required the draw to be redone and further modified to equip games with referees.

Two days before the tournament, the venue managers confirmed the courts were unavailable due to pools of water which had not dried as expected. Plan B to move to an Albury Council soccer field was confirmed on Wednesday and worked well for the doubles on Friday. It required extreme effort from the few Twin City CC members to paint 8 courts, move chairs and all tournament equipment from the original venue – Albury Tennis Association Centre – 150 metres up the road.

Because the soccer field was unavailable for the weekend, Plan C saw the tournament moving across the border to Wodonga Tennis Centre. This was a fantastic venue with grass tennis courts providing a pretty true and slick surface for play. And we played each day in sunshine with clear blue skies. Many thanks go to our Venue Manager for quickly identifying alternate venues and managing all the logistics of the changes. Also to our wonderful Gateball players, who loaded up their cars and utes with gear, assisted with court set up and did not complain about the moveable feast of this tournament.

Story content provided by Judy Tier
NSW State Coordinator of Gateball

Vale Andrew Davies – a link to a recent CNSW Newsletter.