Chang Impresses Selectors

Eugene Chang spent a very successful 3 days at Sidmouth Croquet Club between 8th and 10th September competing in the Croquet Association’s Selectors Event. He won 6 games out of 9 to finish as joint runner up.

Of the 10 competitors Chang was the 2nd highest handicapped player at 2.5, and after losing his first match by 20 points to experienced player Cliff Jones (himself a far country member of Bath Croquet Club) his prospects were not looking good. However Chang then defeated one of the pre-tourament favourites, Chris Daniels (handicap -0.5) in sudden death, by just 1 point on time.

Inspired by this last minute victory Chang began to grow in confidence and also narrowly defeated Paul Castell (-0.5) of Surbiton by just 4 points.

On the 2nd day of the competition Chang came up against Bath colleague Daniel Mills (3). Both players were finding the fast lawns and tight hoops challenging, but in a closely contested match Chang came out on top by 6 points after playing two fine turns towards the end of the match. Further victories against Julie Hudson (1.5) and Gary Bennett (-0.5) meant that Chang lead the field with 5 wins from 6 at the end of day two.

On the morning of the 3rd day Chang came up against an in form Kevin Carter (-0.5) of Surbiton, but against all the odds still managed to pull off a win by just 4 points.

Finally though Chang’s luck ran out as he was defeated in another close match by Tom Weston (1.5). Defeat in his final match against Roehampton’s David Mooney (0.5) consigned Chang to a very credible joint runners up spot behind Carter, who finished with 7 wins out 9. Chang also achieved a handicap reduction from 2.5 to 2.

A full report on the whole event can be found on the CA website: http://www.croquet.org.uk/news/newsdb.asp?NewsID=1936