With great anticipation, the GC World Championship Final got underway at noon under picture perfect skies. Close to 300 spectators were on hand to witness the epic battle that was to unfold. In the best of five match, Reg Bamford of South Africa took the first game 7-6. That was followed by Ahmed Nasr of Egypt winning the second game 7-5.
New Zealand Wunderkind Felix Webby continues to be unflappable as he secured his spot in the Semi-final of the main event. He will face Egypt's Ahmed Nasr in a best of 5 game match. Reg Bamford took out Jenny Clarke to earn his spot and Hamy Erian defeated his countryman, Mohamad Karem 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 to secure his place in the top 4.
The Final Eight have been decided! After two rounds of Knock Out play, the following players have reached the quarterfinals - John Christie (NZ), Ahmed Nasr (EG), Peter Landrebe (AUS), Felix Webby (NZ), Hamy Erian (EG), Mohamad Karem (EG), Reg Bamford (SAF), and Jenny Clarke (NZ).
With the 2017 WCF Golf Croquet World Championship in the spotlight this weekend, I will keep this week's Morning Coffee brief and provide an index for following the event:
Right here on Croquet Network, Cheryl Bromley (USA) is providing a daily journal on here experiences at the 2017 GCWC. Her husband Bill has also been providing photos, and they've been collected in this gallery. Coming soon -- a few video clips.
Sherif Abdelwahab and Mohammad Kamal continued to put in impressive performances today with both players now 7-1 with one block match remaining.
In Abdelwahab's second match of the day, he faced George Coulter, age 20, the older of the two brothers from New Zealand who are absolutely fantastic shooters! The "young guns" are well-coached, composed and wonderful young men
It wasn't only the 95 degree weather today that was hot but the impressive play led by US players Sherif Abdelwahab and Mohammad Kamal as they improved their records to 6-0 and 5-1 respectively in block play. Kamal had solid wins over Aussie Geoffrey Reilley and England's Stephen Mulliner to wrap up his day while Abdelwahab posted wins over Richard Brooks of England and Anne Quinn of Australia.
It was an absolutely beautiful warm day during this last week of summer here in Melbourne. USA players had a good day on the lawns with Sherif Abdelwahab posting his third win (and currently in the middle of his fourth match at the time of this entry [He won -- DG]).
Matt Griffith notched a win against Sweden's Joakim Norback and, in an exciting three-game match, Mohammad Kamal took down Australia's John Arney to add another win to his record. The photo above shows Kamal's hampered jump shot attempt at the 13th hoop in game two.