This year’s State Singles Championships were held in fine and mild conditions, continuing the remarkable trend of near-perfect weather for all our SAPL events so far this season.
The Women’s competition was hard-fought and closely contested, with only one player making it through the morning session undefeated. That was Melissa Scott, from Prospect.
Melissa continued to hold her nerve after lunch and went on to win her first state title. Her opponent in the final was Novar Gardens’ Miriam Peik, also recording her personal-best finish in a state championship. Well done to both of you.
This year’s result continues a trend of ‘sharing the love around’ in this event. Melissa is the fifth Women’s Singles Champion in five years. In fact, there have been eleven different winners from thirteen championships dating back to 2006.
In the Open category there was a record number of entrants and several new faces this year, making it an exceptionally strong field. The day thus threw up quite a few surprises, including several past winners not making the cut into the final 16.
One of the wildcards in the mix was the emergence of Van Nguyen, from Vietnam, who has recently joined the Prospect club. Van is a young but experienced and very talented player who looks certain to have a big impact on the local petanque scene from now on. On this occasion, he duly dispatched the past two title-holders (Maurice and Dominique) in consecutive knock-out rounds on the way to a place in the Final – a rather impressive debut.
Ultimately, however, it was another young but very experienced and talented player who emerged victorious. David Lefer, from ESP, was up to the task and is the new State Champion. This is David’s first Singles title and it takes him into the elite group to have won State Championships in Singles (2021), Doubles (2018) and Triples(2007).
Congratulations, David, and to all the other place-getters and winners of the minor finals.
As a final aside from the TD, it is uncanny to note how often events such as this are won by one of the first three entrants to register. What does that tell you?
Thanks to Brett Williams and Roland Peik for giving up their day to take on umpiring
duties and to the ever-efficient Novar Gardens crew for putting on a great show and
keeping everything running smoothly.
