Sandgropers, Croweaters and Blues all snare gold
A further three states have struck gold at the Australian Under-18 Championships in Nightcliff this afternoon.
Western Australia and South Australia both seized their only opportunities to secure a slice of gold, prevailing in the girls’ singles and boys’ triples respectively, while NSW clinched their first of three chances to obtain the coveted coloured medallion, but it went right down to the wire in the boy’s pairs decider.
The Sandgropers’ Elizabeth Allan successfully defended her blue-ribbon girls’ singles title against Queensland’s Connie-Leigh Rixon, 21-11, while the Croweaters’ Gerrin Jenke, Tyson Wilson and James Bodnar proved to be on of the biggest surprise packets of the event after toppling Victoria’s pre-tournament favourites Curtis Hanley, Ben Cotter and Jay Bye-Norris 16-13, a feat that far surpasses their seventh placed finish last year in Sorrento.
In the boys’ pairs, the Blues’ Isaac Rayner and Jono Davis ended Queensland’s hopes of obtaining glory in the Maroons’ fourth gold medal attempt when they defeated Jacob Nelson and Nic Gosley by 1 shot in an edge-of-your-seat thriller that saw an extra sudden death end played to post a result.
Despite have dropped four of their six gold medal chances so far, Queensland still remains firmly in the hunt to claim the overall team honours, leading Victoria by 3 points, 18 to 15, in the race for girls’ trophy, while the Big V has a slight lead in the boys’ trophy, 27 to 25.
As a result, the overall state winners’ trophy is a contest between two, prior to the last three gold medal matches being played, with Queensland holding a precious 1 point margin, 43 to 42.
The remaining three final disciplines, the boys’ singles, girls’ pairs and triples, will commence at 2.45pm ACST.
Click here for full results from the 2014 Australian Under-18 Championships and Nightcliff, Darwin.
Caption: Western Australia’s Elizabeth Allan has gone through the Australian Under-18 Championships blue-ribbon singles undefeated to defend her coveted title.