I/J Leagues take another step forward at Tauranga

The fourth round of nine in the Waikato-Bays Intermediate League Championship took place in Tauranga on the 18th of June. The room was packed with a field of 33 players. Peter and June Hagan of Tauranga had an excellent day, coming top East-West in the morning and top North-South in the afternoon to win the day outright. They had a clear lead over second-placed John Little and Graham Saunders of the Waikato club who were followed by two of the region's nominees to attend the Inter-Provincials in Dunedin, Hattie Curtis and Bruce Ballard of Katikati.

That left Mark Thomson of Hamilton still at the top of the Leagues table with 20 points, his partner for the IP's in Dunedin, Jeffrey Chang, unable to attend on the day but still in second place with 18 points. They are followed by Hattie and Bruce on 15 and Peter and June on 13.

It was a triple-header at Tauranga as the third round on the Junior Leagues was played at the same time. Melanie Rex & Jan Johnstone of Tauranga came top of 22 pairs, followed by Melinda Wang & Catherine Cameron of Hamilton millimetres ahead of Mike Nicholson and Carol Cullen of The Mount. These three pairs are placed in exactly that order in the Junior Leagues. The third event was a one-session toe-dipper for Novice players. Winners Angela and Mike Newton and third place-getters Keryn and Steve O'Brien were straight out of the Learners class - a real credit to their teachers. See Karen Martelletti's blog of the event on the Tauranga site.