Autumn league is under way and runs for 8 weeks finishing on the 25th of June. The teams, playing schedule and progressive results are here.
We have now reached the business end of the competition, with three fantastic matches narrowing down the contenders for the finals. Hawaii (Jim Jarmin / Stew Hickford & co) were able to defend their overall lead through a narrow win over Leeds (Zac Lochhead & co) in a match with seven five-setters, with Leeds wining the last four of those five-setters. That took the match to a deciding double where Stew Hickford / Jae Lee were able to halt the slide and emerge victorious over Zac Lochhead / Terry Lee. Even though Hawaii will have a bye next week, they have won enough points to be assured of one spot in the overall final, but Leeds are now out of contention.
In the Final, Hawaii will either meet Brazil (Matthew Ball & co.), or Kenya (Miko Kirschbaum & co) that are now equal on points and sitting in second place. Those two teams are due to meet each other next week, with the winner assured of a play-off spot for first place against Hawaii.
This week's Player of the Week, based on results of this week's round of the Atumn Comp and last Friday's Super-16, is Malcolm Little with a ratings jump of 44 points, followed by Nanda Putra (29 points) and Zac Lochhead and Jae Lee (18 points, each).
On the Order of Merit list, Matthew Ball has reached 10,000 points, Allen Blackburn and Natalie Paterson have reached 3000 points, Kerry McGeehan and Tim Seaholme have reached 2000 points, John Raumati, Malcolm Little, Stew Hickford and Gladys Halford have reached 500 points, and Harry Chen, Nanda Putra and Neil Miller have reached 250 points.
Super 16
The second round of this Year's Super-16 competition was played on Friday 7 June. After missing the first round, Matthew Ball returned in style to comfortably win the round ahead of Tim Seaholme with Miko Kirschbaum coming third. Taking the results from both rounds, Matthew Ball and Tim Seaholme now jointly lead the competition, with Dean Lochhead in third place, closely followed by Nathan Watson and Miko Kirschbaum. The next round will be played on 28 June. See here for playing dates, participating players, progressive results and further information.
Manawatu Open
The 2013 Manawatu Open will be held on Saturday 6 July at the Barber Hall, Waldegrave St., Palmerston North. Entries close on 22 June. The entry form and other useful information is available here.
Last year's (2012) winner were:
Men's Open: Phillip Zhao def Matthew Ball (4:2)
Womens' Open: Catherine Zhou def Natalie Paterson (4:2)
Mens' Open Doubles: Phillip Xiao / Matthew Hetherington def Matthew Ball / Tim Seaholme (3:0)
Womens' Open Doubles: Natalie Paterson / Gladys Halford def Catherine Zhou / Xiaoping Luo (3:1)
Mixed Open Doubles: Phillip Xiao / Catherine Zhou def Tim Seaholme / Natalie Paterson (3:0).
Full results of the 2012 Championship are available here.
The Race To The Top
Being nearly half way through 2013, it is time to start to have a look who might emerge as this year's most improved player. Last year, Terry Lee had made the biggest gains, just ahead of Aaron Su. This year, we have a tight race so far, with Aaron Su narrowly leading with a gain of 140 points, followed by Zac Lochhead (128 points), Nanda Putra (120 points), Scott Lochead (104 points), Ross Avery (102 points) and Jae Lee (101 points). With six players with gains within 40 points of each other, it's still anyone's race. Here is the full picture of the most improved players for 2013 so far.
Junior Coaching
Junior coaching is back! After the successful summer series earlier in the year, this winter-season coaching for juniors has started on 10 June, Mondays from 18:15 to 19:45, and runs for 15 weeks. Pay per week or for the full season with a discount. Suitable for juniors from 5 to 18, beginners or more advanced players. See this poster for more info.
Contact Matthew Ball for registrations and/or further enquiries at (06)329 3560 (answer phone) or email: b.ball@clear.net.nz.
