Our luck had to run out sooner or later. Near the end of a remarkable season where the weather turned out to be much better than forecast for every SAPL event so far (including the one that was cancelled), the State Singles were played in rather damp conditions with light rain falling for most of the day. Fortunately, we have an abundance of pistes at Novar Gardens and there wasn’t a huge turnout, which meant we were able to avoid the areas that were flooded without too much disruption.
The Women’s competition was a bit low on numbers but not low on quality and it was very competitive. Each of the 10 contenders went home with at least one win under their belt and at least one loss. However, winning the games that mattered most was Jean May, culminating with a victory in the final against runner-up Deb Coleman. Special congrats go to Jean for her first state title. It is interesting to note that we have now had eight different winners in this event over the last nine years.
In contrast, the Open did feature an undefeated player. Not surprisingly, given his extremely impressive CV, it was Van Nguyen. Adding to that CV, this is his third State Singles title – only the second person to achieve that feat – and he has now claimed two of the last three state championships in each of Singles, Triples, Gender Doubles and Mixed Doubles. Not to be forgotten was the runner-up, Ken Maski, another highly decorated player who also performed admirably.
Thanks to the Novar Gardens club for hosting the event and to the umpires, Roland Peik and Brett Williams.
Download the full report (PDF): Scores-2025-26-State-Singles.pdf