Brad Morgan
11 February 2008
South Africa is set to host the top golf croquet players in the world from 8 to 16 March after the World Croquet Federation awarded the hosting of the 2008 WCF Laidlaw World Golf Croquet Championships to the South African Croquet Association.
The event will be centered at the Kelvin Grove Croquet Club in Newlands, Cape Town, while some matches will be played at the Helderberg and Somerset West croquet clubs.
It marks the first time that a World Croquet Championship event will be held in South Africa, which is a founder member of the World Croquet Federation.
Taking place over nine days, the tournament will feature 64 competitors from 17 countries.
Favourites
Egypt is the team to beat, with the North Africans having produced the winner on each of the seven previous occasions that the championships have been held. They also have six players in the world top 10, including the top three of Ahmed Nasr,
Alaa Ana El Nour and Ahmed El Mahdi.
Mohammed Nasr, number five in the world, is the current world champion, having beaten his compatriot, Salah Hassan, in the final in 2006 at Hawkes Bay in New Zealand.
The United Kingdom, with three players in the top 10, will be sending a big team to the event, while there is also a sizeable entry from New Zealand and Australia.
SA line-up
South Africa boasts a seven-strong line-up spearheaded by Reg Bamford. A two-time World Association Croquet champion, Bamford has also won the national association croquet title six times. He is ranked number three in the world in that discipline and fourth in golf croquet.
David Boyd was the 2004 and 2006 SA Croquet Association (Saca) national singles handicap champion, while he won both the Saca open singles and doubles titles in 2005.
Mike Corcoran's achievements include winning the handicap and open golf croquet doubles titles at the SA Masters in 2003, as well as victories in the Gauteng Open singles and doubles championships.
Victor Dladla's life is all about croquet. He is employed by the Country Club Johannesburg, where he is responsible for all the catering and other arrangements at the club's Croquet/Bowls pavilion.
Long-time international
Carole Jackson, the president of Saca, first represented South Africa in 1982. For the past two years she has won the SA AC Open singles championship.
Despite her long involvement in croquet, Jackson took up golf croquet more recently in her career. She is the current holder of "The Level Best", an invitation event for the top 12 golf croquet players in the country.
Peter Johnson's career highlights include finishing as runner-up in the 2004 SA Nationals and runner-up in the 2007 Western Province Open singles. His top achievement, however, was victory in the 2007 SA National championship golf croquet open singles championship.
Grahame Tomes, whose playing career spans 35 years and three continents - Europe, Australia and Africa - has won the SA National Open singles championship three times.
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