From 80 to 12, age proved no barrier at tennis tournament

Rockhampton Tennis Association president Wayne Houston hailed the three-day tournament a huge success.

Tennis, Malcolm Cooke. Photo Allan Reinikka / The Morning Bulletin. Picture: Allan Reinikka

TEAMS including the youngest and oldest players in the field featured in the finals of their respective divisions at the Town and Country Doubles Teams Tournament which wrapped up yesterday.

Rockhampton's Pat Hayes, 80, was a member of Pat's Obe which won the B1 men's division, while Tilly Gourlay, 12, was part of the Agnes Water team which was runner-up in the B2 women.

Rockhampton Tennis Association president Wayne Houston hailed the three-day tournament a huge success.

"We had 160 players in 26 teams who played about 550 sets of tennis," he said.

"There was a lot of good tennis, with a really high standard of play in the finals.

"Everyone had a really good time and we received a lot of positive feedback."

Town and Country Doubles Teams Tournament

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Rockhampton's Ball Busters (Kyle Johnston, Lleyton Parle, Angus Houston, Brittany Zipf, Calum Maitland) beat The Young and the Rest of Us (Matthew Brown, Kennedy Tjandramulia, Allan Harwood, Liam Douglas, Barry Harth and Jeff Shillam) 21-18 to win A-grade.

Pat's Obe (Tim Griffin, Steve Griffin, Warren Acutt, David Deeth, Paul Lynham, Pat Hayes) won the B1 men's final 24-13 against Randoms (Anthony Swift, Owen Ambrey, Greg Delroy, Nathan Box, Campbell Wakenshaw, Ben Box).

Social Butterflies (Allison Close, Debbie Munn, Jenny Thompson, Val Bell, Jacquie Zipf) defeated The Fairies (Natasha Nelson, Sharon Swift, Keryl Horwith, Amanda Barry, Barbara Wilson) 18-12 in the B1 women's grand final.

Try Hards (Darren Dunbar, Maverick Dunbar, Nathan Phillips, Tyler Ung, Matt Crighton, Peter Lawn, Alex Crighton) won the B2 men's division. They beat Team Ators (David Dahl, Mick Dahl, Dom Scott, Scott Absolon, Damien Orford and Ed McCamley, Adrian Reimer) 22-18.

The Hawaiian Chicks (Kerri Taylor, Desley Maston, Dulcie Wragge, Julie Maston, Danielle Maston) took the honours in the B2 women. They won their final 22-11 over Agie Crew (Angie Draheim, Annie Draheim, Julie Dowse, Suzanne McLean, Lauren McGrath, Tilly Gourlay).

The tournament is in its 92nd year and Houston said organisers were hoping to grow the event to 40 to 50 teams in the future.

Originally published as From 80 to 12, age proved no barrier at tennis tournament