Former Champs In Mix For Mattara Honours
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday August 13, 2008
TWO previous winners will hit the greens at Hamilton North Bowling Club this morning to fight for a spot in this afternoon's Les Parrott Memorial Mattara open singles final.
South Tweed Heads-based Tony Miller last won the title in 2003, when he was playing for Charlestown, and has returned to Newcastle in an attempt to again take out the $500 event.Miller will meet Merewether's Kelly Strong in the first semi-final.Toronto Workers and former Australian representative Sam Laguzza last won the Mattara open singles in 2001 and he faces Dennis Ashbridge from Tea Gardens in the second semi-final.Both semi-finals start at 9.30am, with the final scheduled for 1pm.Laguzza won through in yesterday's quarter-finals by beating the only woman to reach the last 16, Helen Wuro, 21-7.Earlier, Wuro had put in a top performance to record a nail-biting 21-20 win over defending titleholder Chris Ramage.In the other quarter-finals, Ashbridge beat Kahibah's Owen Jefferson 21-10, Strong snuck past Michael Brown 21-15 and Miller had a close 21-18 win over Barry Cartwright.The annual Mattara Carnival, now in its 48th year, continues to be one of the biggest and most popular competitions in the world.This season the two-week long carnival has attracted 1080 nominations, almost 100 more players than last year.The traditional carnival, comprising mixed pairs, men's pairs, men's fours and the Frank Neat Memorial Clubs Knockout triples, kicks off tomorrow, with all winners from last year back to defend their crowns.Warners Bay duo Jenny Fraser and Ed Collaros will be defending their title when the mixed pairs starts tomorrow, and the composite combination of Wayne Smith (Lambton), John Parkinson (Kahibah), Andrew Smith (Lambton) and Jason Pietraszek (Soldiers Point) will chase their second successive fours title when that event begins on Saturday.Former prominent harness racing trainer-driver Gerald "Tiger" Markey will again lead for Lennon Scott as the Raymond Terrace duo chase a winning double in the men's open pairs, which start on Monday.Hamilton are again pinning their hopes on Vic Papworth, Col Friend, and Barry Cartwright to emulate their success of last year and provide the club with their third win in the Frank Neat Memorial Club Knockout triples when that event kicks off next Wednesday.Wallsend, who are celebrating their centenary this year, are the host club and the venue for the semi-finals and finals of all four events on Friday week.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald