Advertisement

Veterans bring home table tennis silver

In a first for Busselton, five players associated with the Geographe Bay Table Tennis Club joined more than 400 others to compete in the National Veterans' Championships in Hobart during October.

Club patron Gordon Lee returned with three silver medals after being runner-up in the 0/75 men's singles, an event he had won the previous two years.

He was also runner-up in the 0/75 mixed doubles with Betty Bird from South Australia.

Lee partnered Geographe Bay captain Neil Coy and the pair just missed out on gold by two points to New South Wales in the deciding doubles game.

Lee and Coy also derived much satisfaction with wins over the two favoured teams representing Victoria.

The club's first-timers at these nationals, David Cheshire, Yvonne Cleal and Margaret Schutz, enjoyed the experience of competing with the nation's best in their age groups.

Though the club's players were generally outclassed, the ladies enjoyed competing against eight teams, which included Japan and New Zealand.

Cleal won several singles matches, including two in a very close contest with South Australia.

In January next year, the club will be represented in Hobart by disabled athlete Garth McNeil competing in his fifth national AWD National Championships.

Should he do well enough, he could compete in the Oceana Para Table Tennis Championships in Bendigo in April.

The club will be in recess over the summer months until mid-March.