The main event was preceded by a Qualifying
Tournament held in Morrinsville CC and
Claudelands CC in Hamilton.
Twenty six players entered, 13 from Australia
and 13 from New Zealand. One player from
Australia failed to show which upset the draw.
Players were drawn into two seeded blocks and
after block play, the top five from each block
went through to a super block on the third day.
Instead of prize money the top 4 had their entry
into the Worlds paid.
Unfortunately, one country had had a
withdrawal, so we were able to have an extra
player qualify. The five successful players were,
Brian Bullen Paraparaumu
Mike McClure Nelson
Jim Peck Katikati
Dave Roberts Katikati
Steve Clarke Whakatane
Virginia Arney from Australia, as the sixth
Qualifier, also made the Worlds when an
English player injured her ankle after arriving
in NZ.
Bernie Pfitzner from Australia the seventh
Qualifier, also made the worlds the day before it
started, as another player returned home for
family reasons.
A very enjoyable tournament was had by all.
**********************************
Also held partly as a preliminary event was
The 2015 Under-21 Golf Croquet World
Championship held in Christchurch
1-5 February 2015
2015 World U21 Champion
Congratulations
Joshua Freeth
Winner:
Joshua Freeth (Canterbury)
Runner-Up: Marwan El Sabrouti of Egypt
The lawns were lightning fast, up to 14 seconds
and the hoops very unforgiving. With hardhitting young people there were a lot of balls
bouncing out many yards away from failed
hoops. The hoops were relatively e asy to get out
of the ground at the end of the day, and several
became quite loose during the day. Conditions
varied and on day 4 the wind started picking
up. Play was stopped for 15 mins so that the
lawns could be watered. Many players were
failing to keep their balls on the lawn.
There were 28 players, in 4 blocks of 7 playing
for 16 places in the knockout. The top 4 from
each block went through, with ties on match
wins for qualifying separated by single-game
playoffs (Taken from the Croquet Scores Commentary
by Jenny Clarke)
Gold Silver and Bronze
medallists L-R Felix
Webby, NZ (Bronze), Josh
Freeth, NZ (Gold),
Marwan El Sabarout,
Egypt (Silver)
Rex Oliver, Publicity Officer Croquet ManawatuWanganui has also commented on the event
There were some good performances from
Manawatu-Wanganui players in the Under 21
Golf Croquet Championships, recently
completed in Christchurch. Lachlan Hughes of
Wanganui won the Bowl, thus finishing in
overall 9th position and James Simons of Rose
Gardens reached the final 16 knockout stage.
There was great disappointment at Rose
Gardens Croquet Club as strong contender,
André Murray, did not compete as, only days
before the event he had fractured his wrist