Allocation of Ranking Places – 2023 European GC Open Championship

Please see the below notice for Allocation information for this event including the list of players in receipt of Ranking Places, and the current Replacement Ranking List as at 5th March.

2023 GC European Open Ranking Place allocations

Please note member places must be notified to Roberts Stafeckis by the closing date 2nd April 2023.

 

European GC Women’s Championship Winner: Begoña Elzaburu

Congratulations to Begoña Elzaburu, from Spain, winner of the 2022 European Women's GC Championship.

 The  first ever Women's European Golf Croquet Championship took place in Latvia between Thursday 30th June  to Sunday 3rd  July 2022. The event was played across two venues: the Ikskile Croquet Club (IKK), Vecnorinu iela 18, Ikskile, LATVIA, where there are three full size courts, and a satellite venue in Sigulda with one full size court.

Latvia surprised the foreign players not only by perfect lawns, excellent organisation, and warm hospitality, but also by tropical temperatures of 30 degrees and above. There was not a single drop of rain during the four days of the games, although the lawns were flooded by a sudden thunderstorm just a few hours before the opening ceremony.

Among 28 players from 7 countries, 5 countries were represented by their women’s ranking leaders, Jane Morrison from Ireland being the top seeded player with DGrade just over 2000.

Spain was represented by 10 players, Latvia benefited from the host country status and was able to enter 6 players.

Players were seeded into 4 blocks of 7, and top 4 players of each block were promoted to the main knock-out. After the block stage, there were 6 Spanish, 5 Latvian, two English, two Irish, and one Swiss player among the top 16.

There have been several surprises during the Championship. Sabine Martinsone, from Latvia, won the Shield trophy having been seeded just number 19. Rocio Mato, from Spain, was seeded number 27, and finished 8th. At the same time, the third seed missed the knock-out, and the number one seed lost in the first round of the knock-out.

The first semi-final on Sunday morning between Paz Gonzalez de Aguilar, from Spain, and Michelle Leonard, from England, finished relatively early in two games in favour of Paz with 7/5, 7/6. Another semi-final between Begoña Elzaburu, from Spain, and Silvija Freimane, from Latvia, required 3 games and lasted over 4 hours before Begoña secured an all-Spanish final by beating Silvija 7/6, 6/7, 7/5.

The final match presented some high-quality croquet, however Begoña gave very few chances to her friend and opponent Paz, beating her in two games 7/4 and 7/5.

The third-place match between Silvija and Michelle was the last one to finish before the awards ceremony could start. Silvija secured a victory in two games, 7/4 and 7/6.

Another two young Latvian players, Sabine Martinsone and Tania Varsa, won the Shield and Plate trophies respectively, and the top seeded Jane Morrison, from Ireland, won the Bowl.

The Championship has contributed greatly to promotion of croquet. There have been a number of interviews on printed media, two rather long stories on television, and non-stop streaming of the games throughout the days.

The Opening ceremony was attended by three Ambassadors. The Spanish Ambassador also arrived on the final day to watch the finals and awards ceremony.

Apart from the opening and closing ceremonies, the was a river cruise on Thursday night and an official dinner on Saturday night.

According to the forward calendar of the WCF, the next Women’s GC European Championship is scheduled to take place in 2024.

Report by Roberts Stafeckis

Winner: Begoña Elzaburu from Spain, Runner Up: Paz Gonzalez De Aguilar from Spain, 3rd Silvija Freimane from Latvia, Shield Winner - Sabine Martinsone Latvia, Bowl Winner - Jane Morrison from ireland and Plate winner, Tania Varsa from Latvia.

 

For full results go to Croquetscores.com

https://croquetscores.com/2022/gc/womens-european-championship

Winner: Begoña Elzaburu from Spain, Runner Up: Paz Gonzalez De Aguilar from Spain, 3rd Silvija Freimane from Latvia, Shield Winner - Sabine Martinsone Latvia, Bowl Winner - Jane Morrison from ireland and Plate winner, Tania Varsa from Latvia.

European GC Open Championships: Winner Aston Wade

Congratulations to Aston Wade, winner of the 2022 European GC Open Championship.

The  European Golf Croquet Championship took place in Budleigh Salterton, Devon between Thursday 26 May to Sunday 29 May.

Aston beat Rachel Gee 7:3, 7:2 in the final.

Aston Wade is presented with the trophy by Roberts Stafeckis, Chair of the European Regional Committee of the WCF

For full results go to Croquetscores.com 2022 European GC Open Championship Results

2022 European GC Open Championship – Entry Fees

Players who have been notified that they have received a place in the upcoming European Golf Croquet Open Championship need to pay the £50.00 entry fee by Wednesday 13th April 2022 at the latest.

Per WCF Sports Regulations Appendix 2, clause 6, players who fail to pay by the due date will lose their place. The relevant sections of the regulation are below for your information:

6.1 Subject to paragraph 6.2, failure to pay the entry fee by the due date will lead to automatic disqualification and the place will be filled in accordance with paragraph 7.

6.2 Before disqualifying a player for failing to pay their entry fee on time, at least two reminders must have been sent to the Member which nominated the player and all reasonable efforts must have been made to contact the player directly.

All players who can pay by Bank to Bank transfer are encouraged to do so. This avoids the WCF incurring costly PayPal fees. Instructions on how to pay will be sent to each player via their Member.

If necessary, please pay by PayPal using the button below:

Entry Information for European GC Open, Budleigh 26-29 May 2022

The European Golf Croquet Championship will take place in Budleigh Salterton, Devon on the dates announced earlier Thursday 26 May to Sunday 29 May.

This event has been initiated and planned well before the ERC was created, now the new ERC will take over the management of it. Please read the formal invitation to it further below in the text.

Pandemic
Sadly this announcement once again has to be accompanied by the clause that everything is subject to covid related travel restrictions, and players are advised not to enter any binding travel arrangements before the final confirmation that a specific event will definitely take place.

The entry will be limited to 32 players.

In order to encourage a wide participation of European Members:
1.      Each Member who has fielded five or more players in any of the last three championships will be entitled to nominate three players, namely England and Spain.
2.      Each Member/RCO who has fielded two to four players in any of the last three championships will be entitled to nominate two players, namely Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales.
3.      All other Members/RCOs will be entitled to nominate one player.

Ranking Places will be used to fill the event after Member places have been awarded. Spaces will be awarded to the applicants with the highest World Rankings on Sunday, 6 March 2022. However, no Member will be permitted to field more than five players (except to replace last-minute withdrawals).

If you wish to play in this event, you need to apply via your Governing Body who will submit their nominations to the ERC by Sunday, 27 February 2022. Your Governing Body may have their own selection criteria and timetable which you need to follow. Whatever the local procedure, please give them time to review your application and pass it on to us.

For more information about this event, please contact Roberts Stafeckis who is organising this event on behalf of the ERC. Please contact him on email: erc@worldcroquet.org