Title fight on for champ

Defending champion Alison Wall isn't expecting any favours when she contests the Croquet New Zealand women's invitation croquet tournament in Wairarapa from tomorrow through until Sunday.
Wall, from Manawatu, has won this event for the last two years - and also in 2006 - but with the likes of current Australian Open and national MacRobertson Shield representative Jenny Clarke among 11 highly ranked rivals on this occasion, she knows some tough matches are on the agenda.
Wall has been playing croquet since 1993 and admits it took awhile to get the hang of it because she was working fulltime and could not play on a regular basis. Now retired and still fit and active, she enjoys playing golf croquet and association croquet in New Zealand and Australia.
This year, she has ventured further afield, contesting the World Cup event for over-50s in Cairo, where she combined playing with sight-seeing. Wall believes croquet exercises the mind because of the strategies involved and and likes the idea of it being a mixed sport where men and women can play together on an equal footing.
Pauline Reid is also expected to make a bold showing at the Wairarapa tournament to be played on the Masterton and Carterton greens.
She is in the 10th anniversary of having her first association croquet lessons and, while now on a handicap of 0, she says she is still learning.
"Every time I play something different seems to happen and there is something new to learn."
A member of the Waikanae and Paraparumu clubs, Reid has played with notable success at a number of tournaments in New Zealand and England, where she has won the Compton Open singles and twice won doubles titles in Eastbourne. She was invited to compete in the Jean Armstrong invitation event in Bunbury, Western Australia, in 2009 and this year has played in another invitation event in Brighton, south of Adelaide, where she came second.
Jean McIntyre should be a formidable contender for top honours this week too. She took up croquet when she retired to Marton about 15 years ago and quickly moved through the ranks. She has previously been runner-up in the national scratch to 3 handicap championship and the NZCC veteran's championship. She has also filled the same position in the North Island women's championship.
Now 68 and a proud mother, grandmother and great grandmother, McIntyre's only regret is that she didn't up take up croquet sooner.
"But I trust I can still give some of the youngsters a run for their money," she said.
Matches will begin at 8.30am on each day of the Wairarapa tournament, with games lasting 2 hours. No draws are allowed in croquet, so the golden hoop rule will be enforced should scores be level at the end of ordinary time.