Muthaiga Sports Round-Up

CENTENARY POPPY BOWLS CHAMPIONSHIP

To celebrate the centenary of the founding of the British Legion, the MCC Bowls Section held a Centenary Poppy Bowls Championship to raise money for the Poppy Appeal.

Hootenanny Members (from left) Dave Beglin, John Dawson, Mike Craig and Ronnie Andrews entertained us all afternoon with live music and demonstrated that the bowling green is a lovely setting for an afternoon of great entertainment.

British Legion Kenya Chairman Ian Sharp cutting the Centenary Poppy Cake with Jenny Larby, who organised the Centenary event in aid of the British Legion Kenya. Thanks to Lawrence and his MCC team and also to Clare Jethwa for decorating the Poppy Cake. From left - Main sponsor David Seagon with winning team – Peter Scholes, Peder Mortensen and Ian Sharp (with a shot difference of 10.) With a tremendous turn out of support, 41 bowlers took to the green, and a lively and competitive morning of Bowls was followed by a very enjoyable social event, which included a delicious lunch prepared by the Club and a fundraising Lucky Dip. Among the bowlers were representatives from the British High Commission, the Embassies of Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the Republic of Serbia. We were also delighted to have the Bowls Captains of Karen Club (Barbara Charleson) and Limuru Club (Peter Scholes.) The green was playing like a dream thanks to our Green Keeper, Oliver Fowler, ably assisted by Newton and Hebron, and so encouraging to see all seven rinks being used. The whole day was a tremendous success and over KSh 300,000/- were raised for the Poppy Appeal. Thank you to all who took part and to our generous sponsors, JW Seagon, Dion Wines and Diageo/Guinness. Gerry Cunningham Bowls Captain

Centenary Poppy Bowls competition

WINNERS: Peter Scholes, Peder Mortensen & Ian Sharp RUNNERS-UP: Essie Ndungu, Pat Healy & Graham Timmis SPIDER: Erica Sharp & Gerry Cunningham

Handicap Singles

The Club Handicap Singles was kindly sponsored by Oliver and Sheryl Fowler. In one marathon game, Kieran Day beat Halina Pellini 21-20 after 26 ends while in another game Peter Scholes scraped home against Clare Jethwa 21-19. In another marathon game on the first day, Maureen Burns edged out Ollie Fowler 21-19.

In the semi-finals, Peter Scholes beat Alan Collis 21-9 while Maureen Burns beat Kieran Day 21-12.

Club Handicap Singles Sponsor Oliver Fowler (right) presenting the John Fowler Memorial Trophy to winner Peter Scholes. Christina Andersen, newcomer to the Bowls Section and winner of the Spider in the Handicap Singles.

Squash

Squash Report

The squash section continues to stay busy in the last quarter and we have had good turnouts from new players at our monthly social mix-ins. I encourage more players to come and join us on the first Wednesday of every month. To avoid missing the Easter Tournament twice in two years to COVID, we held the event in September, which produced a great turnout of 12 players. This tournament was played over three days, in four groups, with the winners advancing to the Cup Final, and the runners-up competing for the Plate. Both matches were extremely competitive and went the full five games. The Final was contested by Maureen and Peter in blistering heat and Peter went into an early lead which left Maureen chasing the game. Although she did manage to come within two shots around the 11th end, Peter eventually ran out the winner 21-10 to retain the John Fowler Memorial Trophy. The competition attracted two new bowlers - Christina and Yolanda Andersen - who acquitted themselves extremely well with Christina winning the Spider. Gerry Cunningham – Bowls Captain

Rajeev Gandhi on his debut won 3-2 in the Plate Final against Frank Meifel, and Kunal Bid won 3-2 against Keriri Muya, claiming the Cup. Thanks to Sachi Mohindra for her kind donation of BioFreeze products to the finalists, and to MCC Secretary Christian Vater, for the Gym Membership prizes for the winners.

MCC Sports Manager Abdul Aura presents Champion Kunal Bid with the Easter Tournament Cup.

Muthaiga Country Club vs Karen Country Club

In our first competitive team match against another Club in nearly four years, we hosted Karen for what we hope will become an annual event. Our previous matches against Karen have ended poorly for MCC and our team fought hard to change the record, which they did with an impressive 6-2 victory. Kunal Bid – Squash Captain

Owing to the large number of players our annual MCC ‘U.S. Open’ Mixed Doubles was played in two graded groups making it a ‘Team Event’ with teams of two pairs representing various U.S. cities. After an extremely competitive session, ‘Team Dallas’ emerged as the eventual winners - 1st pair Hans and Leesa Shrader and 2nd pair Adil El Youssefi and Naomi Ndolo. Congratulations to ‘Team Dallas’.

Runners-up was a tie between Team Chicago and Team Miami pictured right Chicago Team 1st pair Bitange Ndemo & Tessa MacLellan 2nd pair Alec Davis & Anu Bhardwaj Miami Team 1st pair Rupert MacLellan & Alex Lemhberg 2nd pair Claudio & Teresinha Acioly

Team UK – Winners of the MCC ‘Cup of Nations’ Challenge. From left – 2nd Pair Rupert MacLellan & Anu Bhardwaj and 1st Pair Pamela Bitange & Chris Shaw.

Participants in the annual ‘Cup of Nations’ Challenge For our next event, “Les Grands Poissons” Mixed Doubles Competition, strictly for players of 55 and over, only eight players turned up. Playing on a round-robin basis in just one Pool with pairs representing various big fish, Team MARLIN were the outright winners (Johnny Ponsonby & Tessa MacLellan). Well played those two big fish! Our popular annual ‘Cup of Nations’ Competition attracted sixteen players who represented the EU, Kenya, UK and the USA. Teams of two pairs competed on a round-robin basis within two graded groups. Match play was fierce throughout the morning and eventually, combining both sets of points, Team UK (1st Pair – Chris Shaw & Pamela Bitange and 2nd Pair – Rupert MacLellan & Anu Bhardwaj) emerged as the overall winning team. Well done, Brexit!

Then our Ladies and Men, had the chance to play some singles, however, only three ladies and three men registered to participate, leaving me with no option to introduce, for the first time, ‘Mixed Singles’ for the six players. A most enjoyable time was had and the ladies, certainly performed with great distinction. In the end the challenge was won by Alfred Reboul (a wild card from Paris!) with 22 points, and the runner-up was Katarina Karanja with 20 points. I would like to thank all members of our tennis community for their enthusiasm and commitment in making our Section one of the most active of all the facilities at the Club. The monthly average number of chits signed by players stands at 807. Keep it up everybody!

John Goodwin Tennis Captain