CROQUET

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1924, Page 14

CROQUET

CHAMPIONSHIPS CONCLUDED

RAIN MILITATES AGAINST BRIL-

LIANT PLAY.

C«T TJUGIUPB.—PRESS ASSOCUTKHO

PALMERSTON N., 23rd Jan.

Incessant rain militated to a certain extent 'against brilliant play in the final stages of the New Zealand championship croquet tournament, which for the past week has been in progress. The greens were particularly sodden and heavy,, and troubled those players acenstomed to much keener areas. The tournament was brought to a successful conclusion late in the afternoon, the day's play having disposed of three championship finals.

A feature of the games was the defeat of J. Mmray (Hamilton) ■at the hands of A. G. Boss (Christchurch) in the Dominion open championship, the score being 2-0. The latter played consistently all through. Ross had a similar victory from Mrs. Tiffen (Napier): in the final of this section, thus becoming open champion of the Dominion. H. P,. Stratton. (Hawkes Bay) last year's champion, was defeated by Mrs. Tiffen in the previous lound, winning two games out of thTee. Eoss also annexed the trophy for the Dominion handicap singles, having defeated Mrs. Tiffen again. The other division concluded tq-day was the ladies' Dominion championship. The holder of the title, Mrs. Watkins, again won from Mrs. Glass (Dannevirke) after three hard and keenly-contested games. Following are additional results :—

Dominion Open Championship.—Semifinal : Mrs. Tiffen defeated M'Cullough, 2-0. Final: A. G. Rosa,defeated Mrs. Tiffen, 2-0. The .final battle for,, first honours was witnessed.by a fair crowd of enthusiasts, -and at stages the play proved exceedingly interesting. Ross won the toss but lost the advantage through a long shot by Mrs. Tiffen, who made one hoop, then broke down. Ross then hit in and finished with two breaks, thus winning the first rubber. In the second game Mrs. Tiffen opened and carried her clip to the fourth hoop. Her opponent hit in with the black but failed on the second hoop. Mr,s. Tiffen laid up, but Ross hit in again and concluded the game in two breaks, winning by two straight games to love. Dominion Handicap Singles.—FopTth round : Mrs. Hogan defeated Mrs. Maddren, 26-9. Semi-final : Mrs. Tiffen defeated Mrs. Hogan, 26-18. Final :A. G. Ross defeated Mrs., Tiffen, 26-13. In the deciding game Ross won the toss and almost immediately got a break, which carried him to the stick. Mrs. Tiffen 12 then got in and made a fine break of 12 points, but after pegging out her op? ponent's yellow she failed to wire from the Ted. Ross hit in and finished with a" three-ball break on the second hoop, and gained the victory by 26-13. Ladies' Dominion Championship.— Final : Mrs. .Watkins defeated Mrs. Glass. 2-1. The holder of the title (Mrs. Watkins) was given a surprisingly hard tussle by Mrs. Glass (Dannevirke) before she eventually emerged victor by 2 games to 1. A feature of the initial rubber was the remarkable and accurate hitting in of .the runner-up, who gained the advantage in the early stages of the play by 26 points to 15l There was little of interest in the last two frames, which were we a by the holder by 26-16 and 26-15 respectively, the heavy condition of the green rendering scoring slow. Mrs. Watkins, besides being the holder "of the ladies' Dominion championship, is also .the present holder of the North Island ladies' championship title.

At the conclusion of the tournament Mr. C. F. Spooner. president of the Manawatu centre, presented the trophies won by the various champions and' runners-up.