City Pride on the Line as Battle in Bundy Looms
The city’s keener table tennis players don’t have much time left to decide if they are available to travel to Bundaberg for this year’s instalment of the Bulls versus Bears Shield, the annual clash for supremacy between the Rocky and Bundy table tennis clubs. This year’s team’s matches will be staged in the Rum City on Saturday evening 14 November.
In an intercity clash that has operated under three different shields over the past fifty-five years since the first trophy was introduced this time it’s Rocky’s turn to do the travelling after Bundy did well in that department last year as they are the current title-holder after visiting the Beef City last November.
That win handed Bundaberg two victories in a row as they won narrowly in 2024 on home-soil so the Rocky side will be out to prevent the foe winning the shield for three consecutive years, something that records suggest has not happened before.
On the local fixture scene there were a few surprise outcomes in the round-robin competition in top grade last week resulting in a couple of movements, in terms of the promotion/relegation aspect of the competition, that were not really expected.
Pam Clarke did well to hold her spot on the top table while Patricia Green moves off that court for the first time since the beginning of the season, meaning that she was on table 1 for four rounds which is quite an accomplishment. Geoff Geddes will be looking at repeating Green’s effort over the coming installments as he gained her spot after being undefeated on the second table, including a win over Oliver Wright who has been playing quite well lately. Geddes managed to outdo both Helga Leitner and Joe Clifton but the scoresheet suggests two very tight contests.
No real surprises with Rayden Smith and Joel Coughlan powering their way through the field and both are not far off the top table now after both shedding challenges provided by less credentialed players along the way. But that is the main part of the fabric of this competition as it provides a chance for the leading players to suffer upsets from less-fancied opponents who are always out to unseat the leaders of the fixture as they wind their way upwards after starting in the bottom section.
Chris Leitner enjoyed his best round in a while and his win over Glen McDonald was quite impressive and he also ousted Julien Wright who has somewhat been struggling for form this season. Cooper Bulow won his table after registering good victories over the tricky plays of Joel Gifford and proving too strong for both Warun Wilkinson and Sajan Baral. ockin
In another aspect to this fixture the playing group has been split into three divisions and a prize will be awarded to the leader of each section at seasons-end based on the aggregate of points scored in their best three matches each week. Rayden Smith currently holds a lead over Nick Green in group 1 while Geoff Geddes is being followed very closely by Allan Clarke in the second division. Group 3 sees Oliver Wright enjoying a handy lead over Helga Leitner.
