Miranda Chapman (Thames Valley) and Joe Hogan (Hawkes Bay) successfully defended their titles at the CNZ Men’s & Women’s Championships. The event was held at the Rangatira Croquet Club in Dannevirke (Manawatu-Wanganui).
The Women’s Championship saw eight players divided into two blocks of four competing, with the top two in each block qualifying for the semifinals.
The plate event was played in another round robin followed by single game knockout based on block finish. Carolyn Fordyce (South Canterbury) beat Ashley Cooke (Bay of Plenty) in the Plate Final 20:3.
In semifinal 1 Chapman defeated Pip Rive (Auckland) in two games 26:14 & 26:1. Semifinal 2 saw Bonnie Johnstone (South Taranaki) overcome Carissa Price (Wairarapa) also in two games 26:19 & 25:8.
The final was very closely contested with Johnstone taking game 1 26:22. Game 2 saw Chapman bounce back 26:20 to take the final to a third game. In game 3 both players had their opportunities to finish but ultimately Miranda Chapman prevailed to take the game 26:22 and claim her third title in a row.
Strong participation across AC tournaments this season continued with twelve entries for the Men’s Championship. After a single round robin in the two blocks of six the top two qualified for the semifinals.
The remaining eight players played two plate blocks of four with the block winners playing each other for the Plate title. The final between Jarrod Coutts (South Canterbury) and Nicholas Flood (Manawatu-Wanganui) was incredibly close with the lead changing and both players having opportunities to finish the game. Drama continued right until time went with Flood missing the peg out and giving Coutts one last chance. Unfortunately an angled hoop at penult proved to difficult and Nicholas Flood took the Plate final 25:22.
Due to the challenging lawns and ensuring the tournament can be completed the semifinals were changed to an untimed single game rather than a best of three match. The two top finishers in the blocks Joe Hogan and Stefan Horrer (Wairarapa) qualified for the final by both overcoming their opponents 26:24. Hogan beat fellow Hawkes Bay player John Versey and Horrer beat Dennis Bulloch (Manawatu-Wanganui).
The final saw Hogan dominating game 1 and taking just over an hour to win 26:0. In game 2 Horrer managed to bounce back and despite a few errors was able to take a 26:15 win. With over 5 hours left on the clock Hogan used his experience and changed tactics from the first two games to keep Horrer out of the game. Joe Hogan took game 3 26:2 to defend his title and claim his 6th title since his first win during the 1980-81 season.
Earlier in the week six pairs competed for the Mixed Doubles Championship in a single round robin. The field was incredibly close with four pairs finishing on two wins, one on three wins and the winners Carissa Price (Wairarapa) & Peter Filbee (South Taranaki) finishing on four wins.
