Hogan seeded for world croquet champs

Joe Hogan

GISBORNE croquet player Joe Hogan has been awarded one of the ranking places for the world championships in Wellington next year.

It means he is seeded for the event and does not have to play in preliminary tournaments to qualify.

The Association Croquet World Championships were held for the first time in 1989, in Britain, and Hogan was the inaugural world champion.

The award of a ranking place for the next world championships, which take place in late January and early February, is based on Hogan’s performances this year.

He made a comeback to competitive croquet after one of the New Zealand selectors rang him early in 2015 to ask if he would consider returning to the croquet circuit and be available for selection.

His form convinced the selectors he should be in the team to defend the MacRobertson Shield in the United States in April/May this year.

Two late withdrawals from the team put New Zealand at a disadvantage, but Hogan had his moments.

He and doubles partner Chris Shilling, of Dunedin, set a record for the longest doubles match in the “modern era” of MacRobertson Shield play. It stretched over three days of the tournament.

Hogan also came within two points of beating 2016 world singles champion Stephen Mulliner.

Now, following Croquet New Zealand notification that the World Croquet Federation had awarded him one of the ranking places for the world championships, Hogan plans to step up his back-yard-hoop practice.

Two early-January events, one of which would be the New Zealand Open, would also help prepare him.

Despite a two-decade absence from regular “serious” croquet so he could be around for his family, Hogan still managed to compete in the 2002 world championships in Wellington, the 2008 world golf croquet champs in Cape Town, South Africa, and the association croquet world champs in Christchurch the same year.

He says he still has to pinch himself every time he has the chance to line up against top-flight opposition. And then he gets down to the task of showing he can still produce magic through the hoops.