THE Fish River Tennis Club, established in 1930, held it’s annual men’s doubles tournament last Saturday.
This very popular tournament, always held on the first Saturday in May, regularly attracts a lot of interest and, although entries are limited as the club only has four courts, 16 doubles teams and a lot of spectators enjoyed the day.
Players from Komani, Gqeberha, Tarkastad, Middelburg, Noupoort and even from as far as Hermanus and Stellenbosch, competed for the Boet Collett Trophy.
Two clay courts and the adjacent hall at Fish River were built in 1930. The courts were later extended to four and in 1976, and again in 1992, received all weather surfaces.
In 1995, electric lights were put up to service courts one and two.
The silver floating trophy, originally known as the Fish River Men’s Trophy, has been competed for since 1960, the first winners being Hobson and Doke.
The name of the trophy was changed to Boet Collett Trophy in 2000, in recognition of a previous president, committee member and player of the club.
Excellent tennis was enjoyed until players went onto the courts for the semi-finals, when a proper Karoo thunderstorm hit Fish River. The organisers then decided to count the number of games won to determine the winners and gave first prize to Tiaan Mosterd (Noupoort) and Llewellyn King (Tarkastad). The second prize was shared between Ricky and Robert de Klerk (Cradock) and the team of Ruan Mosterd (Noupoort) and Janrè Viljoen (Hofmeyr).
The ladies of Fish River once again provided an excellent lunch and other eats for the day.