Sport

CRICKET TDCA By LIAM DURKIN   IT WAS an emotion-charged Duncan Cameron Park last Saturday, as Rovers Cricket Club stalwart Simon Duff played his 200th A Grade match...

CRICKET   LVDCL   By LIAM DURKIN   THERE was no shortage of talking points when results from Round 9 of the Latrobe Valley and District Cricket League came to...

CRICKET TDCA IT was moving day for the TDCA on the weekend with five clubs changing their ladder positions, throwing the 2021/22 season wide open. Round 9...

GOLF   By LIAM DURKIN   THE Latrobe City WIN Television Traralgon Pro-Am Classic tees off tomorrow.   All is in readiness for the club's major event - one of...

SOCCER   THE inaugural Gippsland Cup begins today.   The three-day soccer tournament will see a representative side from the Latrobe Valley Soccer League battle high calibre opponents...

GREYHOUNDS   By GERARD GUTHRIE   COUNTRY cups king Ferdinand Boy will take aim at a remarkable fourth title in the Group 2 SEN Track Traralgon Cup (395m)...

TENNISTRARALGON JUNIOR INTERNATIONALBy LIAM DURKINTHE AGL Loy Yang Traralgon Junior International tennis tournament reached its climax last Wednesday following a week of intense competition.It was a European flavour that took out the boys and girls singles title, as well as the boys doubles, while the girls doubles returned victory for the country known as the Great White North.As the singles tournament went on and players were eliminated one by one, the finals came down to four players fighting it out for the championship and the chance to take home a trademark Traralgon Tennis Association Akubra.In the girls, Belgium seventh seed Sofia Costoulas was pitted against 16th ranked Kayla Cross of Canada.Both players went into the final having taken down formidable opponents on the journey. Costoulas defeated Russian top seed Diana Shnaider in the quarter final, while Cross got through an extremely tough draw to topple second seed Kzenia Zaytseva (Russia) in the third round and eighth seed Celine Naef (Switzerland) in the semi.A tight first set in the final saw Costoulas take the lead 6-4.Both players traded blows in the early stages, and appeared to allow the game to unfold naturally.Cross took on the role of challenger in the second set, with a number of deft placements to force Costoulas to run around the court as much as possible.The Belgian however was up to the task, nailing a number of powerful returns. Given Cross' tough road to the final it is likely she figured her chances of winning would increase if she tried to wear her opponent down rather than go head-to-head. This strategy enabled her to keep within touching distance of Costoulas in the first set, but as the second set wore on it became clear the journey to the final had taken its toll on Cross, and Costoulas took the second set in relatively comfortable fashion 6-2 to complete her victory. With Canadians famous for their politeness, one couldn't help but smile wryly when Cross enquired rather courteously to the chair umpire "are you kidding me?" following a tight line call.Costoulas said the tournament had gone well."It was a great preparation here, hopefully I can pull off the same run next week (at the Australian Open)."I like the heat out here, I like to play in warm conditions. The people (in Traralgon) are very nice."THE boys' final saw second seed Mili Poljicak of Croatia up against sixth seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania.Butvilas knocked top seed Bruno Kuzuhara (USA) out in the semi-final, and signs were looking promising after he took a 7-5 lead in the first set of the final.Poljicak recovered from a sluggish start and worked his way into the contest, landing a number of killer blows in the second set to win 3-6.The competitive juices of the Croatian were clearly flowing, as he looked like a man possessed once he stepped foot over the white line. Some tense moments on break points in the second and third set had him speaking aggressively to himself in his native tongue - and you didn't have to be a lip reader to know roughly what he was saying. Poljicak looked the calmer player, preferring to absorb what his opponent could throw at him and then look for ways to counter-attack.The Lithuanian pulled one out of the trick bag early in the piece, executing a shot between his legs to keep a long rally going.Both players well and truly belied their age in maturity and appearance. Although they were listed as 17-year-olds, they could have easily been mistaken for men in their early 20s.Come the third and deciding set, Poljicak gained enough separation on his rival and eventually won 6-3."I felt it in the second (set) when I broke him 4-2 it was my time … it was good in the end," he said."I handled the wind well in the second and third, I think that is what helped me win. It feels great, because this whole tournament is well known in the world."For Butvilas, he still found reason to smile after the match, and was embraced by his mother as if he in fact had won the t

CRICKET TDCA By STEVE CARNEY TOMORROW will see Traralgon Rovers Cricket Club stalwart and life member Simon Duff play his 200th A Grade game for the club,...

ATHLETICS TRARALGON HARRIERS By BARRY HIGGINS THE Harriers returned for their first weekly run last Thursday (January 13) after the Christmas break, running the 5km Water Tower...

ALL Gippsland Cricket League competition has ceased for the 2021/22 season. The Gippsland Cricket Region 7 Board held a virtual meeting on Thursday, January 13...

BOWLS STRZELECKI NORTH SATURDAY PENNANT By MICHAEL HOLROYD AN interesting round of bowls over the weekend. DIVISION 1 NEWBOROUGH and Traralgon were all set to play under lights at Newborough...

<UNICODE-WIN>   <vsn:15.1><pstyle:Body copy>BASKETBALL   CBL   By LIAM DURKIN     ROUND 6 of the Country Basketball League saw Traralgon get some separation in the top two by defeating Churchill.   The T-Birds were...