Australia’s leading duos
On night two of the Australian Championships at Club Sapphire we witnessed four entertaining medal playoffs in the pairs competition and again it was Queensland and New South Wales dominating the podium.
The Queensland men are now two from two after Victoria Points Jade Groenewege and Sean Baker combined brilliantly to win their final against the gallant Victorian side of Adrian Marchioli and Nathan Murray in a quality encounter.
Baker, no stranger to this kind of competition, added another Australian title to his resume, alongside his partner Groenewege who couldn’t take the smile off his face winning the biggest event of his career.
A young player on the rise, South Australia’s Joshua Studham and his partner Stuart Forbes got their hands on a bronze medal having defeated Tasmania in their playoff match last night.
In the women’s competition a spanner was thrown into the works earlier in the day when Anne Johns and Kelsey Cottrell were defeated in their opening round against Alex Reynolds and Chris Keller from Hawthorn in South Australia; the past and present Australian representatives had to claw back the deficit in the final sectional match against a strong Queensland side skipped by Chloe Stewart, teamed up with club mate Jessica Srisamruaybai.
The Blues posted a strong win in that third round match and took that momentum into the final against Victorian representative Rebecca McMahon and partner Leeanne Fitzgerald from country Victoria.
New South Wales led the final from start to finish; Anne Johns may have been carrying an injury but you couldn’t tell by the performance she was putting on whilst Cottrell played some important shots at crucial times in the match to insure the Victorian’s didn’t sniff an upset.
Meanwhile in the women’s bronze medal playoff, Queensland narrowly hung on to victory with a one shot win over Tasmania.
To watch the Australian Championship Pairs finals click here
Women’s Gold Medal Match-
Anne Johns and Kelsey Cottrell (St Johns Park, NSW) defeated Leeanne Fitzgerald and Rebecca McMahon (City of Colac, VIC) 24-7
Men’s Gold Medal Match-
Jade Groenewege and Sean Baker (Victoria Point, QLD) defeated Adrian Marchioli and Nathan Murray (Bundoora, VIC) 15-9
Women’s Bronze Medal Match-
Jessica Srisamruaybai and Chloe Stewart (Tweed Heads, QLD) defeated Amelia Bruggy and Lyn Triffitt (Composite, TAS) 11-10
Men’s Bronze Medal Match-
Stuart Forbes and Joshua Studham (Holdfast Bay, SA) defeated Ricky Richardson and Luke Richardson (South Burnie, TAS) 23-11
