By LIAM TWOMEY
CROQUET royalty was in Brimbank last month for the Women’s World Championships.
The tournament was held at the Cairnlea Croquet Centre and featured some of the best female players from around the world.
It was also the first female only World Championship event that had ever been staged.
Croquet Victoria secretary Jim Clement said the event had been a big success.
“Our facility here at Cairnlea is the equal largest in the world. There is another one in Florida at West Palm Beach that has 12 courts and we have 12 courts,” he said.
“We have 48 women competing at the moment. It was decided by the World Croquet Federation that number would be the limit. There are three from England, 13 from New Zealand and the rest are Australians.
“The standard at top level is very high. We have probably the top four or five women in the world competing here.”
The latest tournament looms as a boost for croquet in Victoria, which has continued to grow in recent years.
There are 8500 participants throughout Australia and 2500 across the 90 clubs based in Victoria.
Clement said the sport was an extremely strategic game and was hoping Cairnlea would be called upon to host similar high calibre events in the future.
“It is a challenging mental sport to be involved in. Like all good sports you can learn the basics in a couple of hours and then you spend the rest of your life getting really good at it,” he said.
“It’s exercise but it is gentle exercise. At the highest level it is a highly tactical game.
“We constantly play Victorian State Tournaments and National Tournaments here. This is the second International Tournament we have hosted here.
“We would really like to get more tournaments here in the future. It would be great for the club.”
