Yesterday, after weeks and weeks of torrential rain, the sky kind of cleared up and allowed us to hold a long overdue tournament. Forty (40) people showed up for this Select Doubles event and by 9:30 am things got underway.
At this point, I would like to recognize Ann Krilanovich for the tremendous job she has done in promoting our sport. Yesterday she brought along fresh-faced Bek Smith to our field, another one of her countless recruits, and she deserves to be acknowledged for her contribution to our common good. Ann, we salute you.
Since my shooting days are over, I secured a few weeks ago the partnership of Bernard Passemar for this tournament, and I felt confident that with his assistance we would do well.
As usual, I brought my cameras, but left the large one in the trunk of my car, to be used in the afternoon, after our elimination from the tournament.
Three games were played in the morning and even though the field was still wet and rather difficult to handle, we managed to win 2 games out of 3.
In the afternoon, we found ourselves in the Concours and managed to win our 3rd game of the day. So far, Bernard and I played rather well, and I felt that we could retire honorably from this tournament even if we lost the next game.
But the capricious Gods on Mount Olympus saw it differently. They allowed us to win another game, and another game until we reached the Finals. So far, we stood with 5 wins out of 6 under our belts, and regardless of the final results we were content.
In the Finals, we faced two heavyweights, Louis Toulon, and Ed Porto and I thought that it would be a challenging game, especially when we played on a different (still very wet) surface.
The game started rather poorly for us, and at one time, our opponents were leading 6 to 2. But we didn’t lose faith and managed to rally. Bernard played extremely well and managed some great defensive shots.
At this time, I didn’t have much of a chance to take many pictures, but I managed a few between games. When we started playing against Louis and Ed, I gave my camera to Tamara and asked her to fill my shoes. Photograph the action I told her and make me look good regardless of what you see. Capisce?
So the last phase of the tournament was photographed by the One and Only Tamara.
Ultimately, we lost the final game 8 to 13, but by all accounts, we lost honorably. By 6:30 pm it was all over, and Tamara dragged me to the car and put me to bed where I slumbered for approximately 10 hours.
Concours:
1st place: Louis Toulon & Ed Porto
2nd place : Bernard Passemar & Alain Efron
3rd place : Peter Wellington & Adair Hastings
Consolante:
1st place: Tim Wetzel & Holly Sammons
2nd place: Noël Marcovecchio & Shama
3rd place: Ted Bissell & Mike O’Leary
Alain
Click on “My photos” to watch the pictures