Preston Bowl 2015 players
The Preston Bowl is an annual open mixed doubles competition that was first contested in 1934 at Abingdon Tennis Club.
This year we had 7 couples who entered. Unfortunately, Matt Davies was unable to partner Alice Atkins this year due to an injury, but we hope he gets well soon, and we are sure he will be back next year.
Our own Tom Buckle partnered Alice in the defence of her trophy. Last
year's fourth place lady, Tamala Anderson returned, this time with
Georgio Cavalla, and Italian who is visiting Abingdon for a short
time. Deb Riches also returned, but this year played with our club
chair, David Buckle. The other pairs were Ryan and Nadine Stewart,
Jules Hiddleston and Ji Ruang-Oun, Andy Aitken and Evie Phillips, and
our very own Sarah Richmond and Alex Wingent.
This year, the players were split into two box leagues and played a round robin over a one tie break set to 6, shoot out. The winners and runners up of each box played a semi-final against each other, and onto a final. The remaining players played another round robin to determine their finishing positions. A summary of the draws and results is shown below.
In a thrilling final, Tamala and Georgio gained a 6-3 win over Ryan and Nadine, whilst Alice and Tom overcame Andy and Evie to claim third place.
I hope everyone enjoyed the competition, and we will see you all again next year.
Craig Amison-Smith
Tournament Director
ALTC 2015 Open Tournament
The Preston Bowl Competition has over 70 years of history. The following information was extracted from the club minutes of 1934:
"At the committee meeting on 23 Jan 1934 it was proposed and agreed that the Crescent Tennis Club be renamed the Abingdon Lawn Tennis Club. At the same meeting Mr A E Preston was elected President of the Club. It was agreed that a competition open to residents in Berkshire within a 13 miles radius of Abingdon would be initiated. The winner will be presented with a Challenge Cup to be given by Mr Preston. The competition is to be played on Whit Monday and to be an American Tournament. Play to commence at 11am and the final to be of 3 sets."(Note that in July 1933 the club applied for affiliation to the LTA.)