Southern’s Karen Lombard & Hassi Leverett triumphed on Sunday and brought home the inaugural National IWD Trophy, winning the first of the new annual women’s doubles competitions organised by Petanque England. The duo qualified at the Regional IWD Competition along with eight other teams and travelled to Oxshott on Sunday 14th April to represent the region.
On a bitterly cold day, 32 teams from across nine regions battled it out on the pistes to compete for the IWD Trophy. At the end of the morning leagues, two Southern teams had made the Gold – Karen & Hassi and Sammy & Paula. The latter team narrowly lost out 12-13 in the first match of the afternoon to a team from Heart of England who then went on to the finals. Before securing their place in the final, Karen & Hassi faced a team from London in the quarter-finals, followed by a relatively quick match with the Chiltern duo Myra Emson & Syri Noble in the semis. The final was played at around 6pm against the HoE team with the temperature dipping significantly. The Southern duo were in danger of losing it half way through the match as Hassi’s pointing went a bit awry when Karen’s thirty-plus years of experience kicked in, displaying exceptionally superb pointing skills. Once over the little hitch, both Hassi & Karen shone through winning the Gold 13-9.
In the Silver category, sisters Trish & Celia and mum & daughter Julia & Francesca lost out in the first knockout match and went on to play in the Silver Plate. Julia & Francesca reached the finals and were beaten by a team from Kent. Francesca was the only junior player amongst the 64 women and her composure throughout the day earned her respect and admiration of everyone she played against as well as the spectators who observed a young player with focus and grace. An absolute credit to our region.
The rest of the Southern teams dominated the Bronze categories as three of the teams reached the semi-finals where Carol & Joy lost out to a duo from Eastern region, while Angela & Maureen beat Christine & Sandy to reach the finals. A hard fought match and the last to finish, Angela & Maureen dug dip to win 13-11 and more importantly the Bronze Medals.
Congratulations to all the teams who showcased a very strong and diverse squad.
Ta-ra chucks from your Happy Blogger…
Photos by Terry Basson and Annette Eggleton
