Jasper Hart took his first club championship in the final writes Trevor Sargeant, tournament organiser

a person presents a trophy to a pleased looking winner — Trevor Sargeant presents the Racketball cup to winner Jasper Hart

Oakleigh Park Lawn Tennis and Squash Club, now in its 140th year of existence, celebrated the finals of their annual Club Racketball Championship and a new champion was unveiled.

The final was contested by Steve Maton, who had played in eight previous finals (winning six) and Jasper Hart, who had appeared in only one other final, which he lost. The opening game was closely contested and Maton had a game ball at 10-8, but Hart recovered and ended up taking the game at 13-11. The impetus of this was evident in the second game, which Hart was able to win by a convincing 11-1 margin. Maton retained his resistance in the third game, but by then Hart’s confidence was high and he was able to to take the game 11-4, to secure victory and his first Club Championship.

The main final was preceded by the final of the “Plate” event for first round losers in the main competition. The finalists were Sunil Kakkad and Robert McCluskey and it proved to be a very well fought encounter. McCluskey, playing in his first Racketball final won the first game by an 11-7 margin, but Kakkad came back to take the second game by an 11-8 margin.

McCluskey edged ahead again to take the third game 11-7 and this inspired him to to take the fourth game 11-5 to clinch the match.

Both finals were marked superbly by club member Pat Hourihan and presentations and a social evening followed in the Club bar.

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