Hobart – The Bartlett – 11th & 12th July 2015
Players headed down on Friday morning to get acquainted to the ‘new’ court, that was how keen BTC was to finally win in Hobart. After an hour of practice and a relatively early Friday night at a local pub (miles to walk up and down mountains) Rob Jolly and Stu Strange took on the leadership of the first battle. Alas, they left their form on yesterday’s practice court losing 9/4. The next two matches were both lost 9/7 by Annie Strange and Rob Jolly in singles respectively until at last BTC came on board with a couple of wins to Greg Henderson and Vince Scopelliti (representing BTC for the first time) followed by Wendy Whitehead and Greg Reid. Then it was a progression of Hobart wins including one from Greg Henderson being 8/2 up to lose 9/8.
HTC finished up 9/3 on day one and we had not even made it to dinner.
A great feast as normal was provided by HTC in house and not surprising the stocks of red wine were well down by next morning. Most surprisingly HTC fronted up with the same players for day two as for day one and BTC were off to a flyer winning the first three rubbers on the back of Vince Scopelliti being in fine form along with fellow Melbourne based players Wendy Whitehad and Greg Reid. It proved too much pressure for Greg Henderson losing to Steve P in singles and even though BTC won the next two matches, HTC won the final rubber 9/8 to finish the day 5/2 to BTC. However, HTC finished 11/8 up for the weekend. Three matches were lost 9/8 and two 9/7 – so we did go close, but no cigars for the team.
MVP goes to Vince Scopelliti representing BTC for the first time winning 4 of his 5 matches. The less said about Rob Jolly having his only win on the practice court, the better.
If you have not seen the clips on the royal table tennis table constructed by HTC member John Herbert, you should. That may be the game that Rob Jolly could excel at!
Add Comment