Wairarapa eye Christie Cup challenge

A CHRISTIE Cup challenge could be in the offing for the Wairarapa senior representative tennis team this season.
Everything will depend on the fortunes of current holders Taranaki who will have faced challenges from other provinces before hosting Wairarapa on March 11.
Safely through them and Wairarapa will get their chance to snare the coveted trophy.
The first appearance for Wairarapa this season, however, will come in the annual quinrangular tournament with Wellington, Hutt Valley, Manawatu and Kapi Mana
It will be played in Palmerston North, probably over the first weekend in December.
Wairarapa selector Steve Hurley-himself crocked by a dislocated shoulder which will probably have him sidelined until early in the New Year-expects Wairarapa to be competitive in that tourney although he has yet to check on the availability of players.
"It's early days yet but hopefully most of last year's squad will be on deck again," he said.
Meanwhile, two of the top teams in the Wairarapa regional one inter-club series will meet tomorrow with second-placed Pirinoa being at home to Opaki.
Going into the match Pirinoa have 13 points-three behind leaders Martinborough ? and Opaki 12 and on that basis there should be little in it on this occasion.
Pirinoa beat defending champions Masterton 5-4 in a thriller last weekend, a pleasing result for them, especially since one of their leading players, Geoff Janse, was missing from the side.
So powerful are they in their men's section that if Janse takes his place tomorrow Pirinoa could have the luxury of having a player of Mike Jackson's undoubted ability at the bottom of the singles order.
Boosting Pirinoa's strength too is the fact that former Central Districts rep Leanne Sweeney has joined up with them and she kicked off on the right foot by winning both her singles and doubles matches last weekend.
Opaki will be no easy beats though. Their confidence was also given a boost last Saturday by their decisive 7-2 victory over Gladstone with Russell Broughton, Brett Dymond and Katie Wyeth going through unbeaten.
The problem for Opaki , however, is that Pirinoa have such depth of talent in their
men's section that keeping in touch with them there will be a mighty difficult assignment.
Competition front runners Martinborough won't be taking anything for granted in their match with Masterton at Masterton as the home side will be desperate to bounce back after their narrow loss to Pirinoa.
This will be the toughest test for Martinborough so far this season but with seasoned campaigners like Marco de Groot, Andy Darling, Rhona Lovell and Libby Paterson leading the way they are sure to give a good account of themselves.
Masterton did well to share the singles spoils with Pirinoa with the main talking point there being George Tatham's straight sets win over Mike Jackson.
Promising youngsters Kirk Collins and Ashleigh Gane both lost their singles on that occasion but have the raw talent to measure up well in the top grade as the season progresses.
The third regional one match tomorrow sees Gladstone hosting Carterton and with both teams bringing up the rear on the competition table their objective will be take important steps towards avoid the wooden spoon. A close go is likely though as they look evenly matched in both singles and doubles play
Current points table for the 2006-07 season are:-.
Regional one: Martinborough 16, Pirinoa 13, Opaki 12, Masterton 10, Gladstone 5, Carterton 4.
Regional two men: Masterton No.1 13, Masterton No.2 12, Gladstone 9, Wairarapa College No.3 9, Wairarapa College No.1 7, Rathkeale No.1 2, Wairarapa College No.2 2,
Regional two women: St Matthews No.3 7, Wairarapa College No.1 6, Masterton 5, St Matthews No.1 5, St Matthew's No.2 1, Wairarapa College No.2 0.
Saturday doubles: Gladstone 10, Greytown 9, Carterton 1, Opaki 1, Masterton 0.
Midweek doubles: Carterton 14, Opaki No.4 13, Opaki No.1 7, Tinui 7, Opaki No.2 4, Opaki No.3 3, Masterton 0.