www.guardianonline.co.nz
Friday, July 26, 2019
Sport
40 Ashburton Guardian
Ferns to receive 25k bonus
Shania ready for big event
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WORLD CHAMP
By Matt Markham
matt.m@theguardian.co.nz
Mid Canterbury has a new world champion – his name, Edmund Fordyce. The Methven teenager, who plays out of the Waireka Club in Ashburton, won the Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship yesterday morning (NZ time) at the prestigious Nottingham Croquet Club in England. The tournament started last weekend and ran through until the early hours of yesterday morning, where the championships wrapped up with various finals. Fordyce had to do it the hard way to become world champion. He entered the knockout stage of the tournament as the top qualifier in his section. He squared off with fellow Mid Cantabrian, Kaleb Small in the first round, winning the first of three games, before Small claimed the second – becoming the first player to take a game of Fordyce in the championships. Fordyce then went onto win the third and the match. He then beat Mohamed Rashad from India in straight games in the quarter-finals before a straight games win in the semi-final against Euan Burridge of England. That set up a final with another Englishman in James Galpin. Things didn’t go to plan for the Kiwi early doors as he dropped the first two games in a best of five play-off. But with steely nerves and some good old fashioned grit, he worked his way back into the match to win the third, fourth and fifth games and become the world champion. The former Mt Hutt College student’s success capped off an incredible championships for New Zealand players, particularly the quartet of players who hail from Mid Canterbury. All four of the locals were in the hunt for major prizes over the course of the championship, and heading into the last day. Christopher Spittal was the winner of the Bowl division of the championships while Logan McCorkindale was the runner-up in the plate. Mid Canterbury’s other player, Kaleb Small was put out of the competition by Spittall in the semi-final stage of the bowl division. For Fordyce, Small and Spittal, the championships were not a new venture – they’d all attended before, but Fordyce told the Guardian earlier in the week that although he’s attended two championships before, he’d never quite achieved the goals he had set for himself. So it’s safe to say that this time around, it’s mission accomplished.
Methven’s Edmund Fordyce is now a world croquet champion.
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