2019/20 SA State Doubles Championship

at:  Prospect Pétanque Club                  25 August, 2019

This year’s State Doubles Championship was held at Prospect in fine and mild conditions. Twenty-five pairs took part, including male, female and mixed-gender teams, which was the best attendance at this event for at least ten years.

The competition was more even than some might have predicted, with lots of close games and plenty of upsets. By the end of the four preliminary games, only one team remained undefeated and that was a portent of what was to follow.

The stand-out team on the day was the pairing of a young gun and emerging star with an established grand master of the game — Nick Armstrong & Maurice Belz swept all before them and are the new state champions. Well done, messieurs! This is the second SA state title for each of these players. Nick’s winner’s trophy will sit next to one from the 2107/18 Mixed Doubles, while Maurice is now the reigning champion in both Doubles and Singles.

Maurice Belz & Nick Armstrong

Congratulations must also go to Sue & Peter Matthews, who performed strongly all day and finished as runners-up and ‘the best of the rest’. Sue & Peter were part of a large contingent of teams from the fledgling Novar Gardens club that, on the whole, accounted for themselves very well.

Continue reading

Changes in SAPL Calendar

Due to an unforeseen clash with a large public event at Gawler on the 22nd of September, the venues for Rounds 2 and 3 of the Interclub competition have been swapped around…

Round 2 will be held at NOVAR GARDENS on Sept 22

Round 3 will be held at GAWLER on Nov 24.

Also, note

The Trebes Cup at FAB has been moved from Sept 8 to Sunday, Sept 29, to avoid a clash with the Interstate Challenge.

Petanque Calendar  Version b

Interclub Competition Round 1 ESP – 29 July 2019

In fine and mild conditions, the 2019/20 season got off to a roaring start with twenty‑four teams in attendance. This turn-out has not been matched since 2012 and the last time we’ve had more than that was in 2008. What makes it all the more remarkable is that this happened at a time of year when quite a number of regular players from various clubs are absent. Host clubs be warned — we might be in for some big crowds this year!

As is customary for the first round, the day began with the presentation of medals for the most outstanding players of the season just completed. Congratulations to Wendy Bensen for winning the Best Player award, and to Alexi Alexi (Best Male Player); Susan Krieg and Mark Reardon (Best New Players); and Tory McBride, Lionel Pujol & Dave Ward (Best Veterans). Wendy is the first woman to win the overall award, making it the first time the medal for ‘best player of the other gender’ has been for the ‘best male’.

At the end of the day, there was another set of medals to present. The gold ones went to the only undefeated team, the very experienced Adelaide trio, Jean-Paul Bouyer, Louis Oltarczy & Alain Rousse. They appear to have recaptured some of the form that saw them dominating the competition a couple of years ago.

Gold Team – Jean-Paul Bouyer, Alain Rousse & Louis Oltarczy

Continue reading