Australia’s best juniors were on show in Hobart on the weekend 25 and 26 May with representatives from BTC, RMTC and Hobart. The event went according to rankings and the semifinalists comprised the four members of Australia’s Under 26 team which is due to fly to the USA and UK at the end of June. The Clothier Cup (USA) and Limb Trophy (UK) events are the international team events for juniors and the team on this occasion will be managed by our own David Parker who is racking up the frequent flyer points having just returned from New York having played in the World Master’s events.
The first semi-final saw BTC’s Michael Williams play his long-time nemesis James Gould from RMTC. Michael got off to a strong start until a loss of concentration combined with powerful forcing from the hard-hitting left hander (handicap 14) brought James back in to it but Michael was able to steady and win 6/3 6/4. Daniel Williams, the team captain, was too consistent and experienced for the mercurial hitting of RMTC’s Paul Rosedale (handicap 15) and closed out the second semi 6/2 6/1.
Hobart put on a big crowd as well as webcasting live (in high resolution) the final between BTC’s top 2 players. The final was a replay of last year’s at which time Daniel won the tournament for the second time, defeating his younger brother. On this occasion the first four games were long with three having extended deuces but at the end Michael was leading 4/0 and while games were evenly split after that, Michael was able to close the match out 6/2 6/5 to add the Australian Junior title to his record of being the world number 3 U/21 player.
Good luck to David and all of the team for their trip.
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