SA President’s Doubles

The fourth edition of the SA President’s Gateball Doubles competition saw a couple of innovations this year.  The first of these was that I was responsible for organising the tournament for the first time, which was an interesting, and ultimately rewarding experience, if somewhat nerve shredding along the way with the ever changing border restrictions – the number of pairs for the tournament varied from 4 to 9 in the lead up, and ultimately settled at 6, which allowed us to run 2 courts and hold a round-robin tournament. 

Saturday morning opened to glorious Gateball weather, and the pre-tournament favourites did not disappoint with Barry and Karen on 4 wins and Philip and Ben on 3 wins but superior net gates going into the final game

 

Philip and Ben prevailed and Philip’s name will adorn the trophy for the third time.

An honourable mention goes to Ros and Keith who travelled the furthest and beat the winners and lost narrowly on a shoot out to the runners up, to finish in third place – a terrific result.

On Sunday, we held our first SA State teams event.  With only two teams, and a couple of players unable to compete, we ended up with two teams of 5.

 

The first team was the “Shanghai 6” comprising Barry J, Geoff, Peter M, Ros, and Trish.  The members of this select group have all competed in the “Jinxi Cup”, held just outside Shanghai.  The remaining players – Ben, David, Karen, Keith and Philip – formed the “Australia 6” team, with 3 states represented.

To add a bit of variety, and also to take advantage of a development opportunity, each game was played with a different captain.  Captains were matched in terms of experience and the two most experienced captains on each team were banned from providing in-game advice.

The Shanghai 6 team stormed to a 3-0 lead, but the Australians fought back, to result in a 3-2 win for the Shanghai 6.

All games were played with great sportsmanship, in particular the team games that were not refereed (although we did have the unusual luxury of four Level 1 referees playing).

A big thank you to all our competitors but particularly our interstate competitors – Philip, Ros and Keith for making the trip, and also to Roger and David for marking the courts, and Lyn for presenting the trophy.

Geoff Crook
Woodville Croquet Club

 

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