By Robin Knight
In August Nelson had their annual battle for the ever-coveted Perry Shield with our steadfast opponents and hosts at their Blenheim facilities.
Matches were very hard fought and sometimes barriers were knocked down whilst getting shots back with many close encounters.
For Nelson, the highlight was the ladies who really excelled after training hard for weeks.
Marlborough led 19-17 after the singles, before Nelson took the doubles 10-8 to leave it at 27 all with 12 mixed to be played.
Dean McNicholl and Estelle Qian won the last mixed doubles to give Nelson a 7-5 win and the shield.
Glenda Ferguson was outstanding, winning eight from eight.
In the singles, she helped team-mates, Ana Vasquez and Shino Yonei to a clean sweep in the women's number two section.
She then combined with Ana for three wins in the women's doubles.
At the finish, Nelson had won 34-32 and finally got back the shield after a few years.
Marlborough was hosted at the Saxton Stadium on the following weekend for the second-tier players for the Couper Shield.
There were many great shots and extended games which kept the attending crowd entertained.
The final score saw Nelson win the shield by 26-10.
The top team of Phil Osborne, Phil Hamblin and Glenn Thorn won their section 10-2 (31-13).
For Marlborough Nathan Cross, Ken Thompsett and Josh Sim gave great Nelson players pressure at times.
Josh lost his fifth 8-11 to both Phil Osborne and Glenn.
Nathan took out Glenn for their only singles win and teamed with Josh to beat Phil and Glenn 11-9 in their fourth for Marlborough’s second point.
The second team of Pietro Cannata, Joshua Pigott and Robin Knight won their section 7-5(28-16).
All three players had two singles each but Joshua and Robin managed their one doubles team win in three straight.
Marlborough players Rory Osborne, Zac Cowdrey and Billy Hebberd got two wins, one win and none in reply.
Robin went down to Zac 8-11 in their fifth, Joshua lost 4-11 to Rory in their fifth and Joshua beat Zac 11-8 in their fifth with a great smash.
Kevin Neumann, Weimin Jiang and Sonny Chan won their section 9-3 (31-17). Chris Hood was the nemesis of all three Nelson players beating all of them in the last of five.
Malcolm Honour and Warren Haszard lost all their singles and combined to lose all the doubles.
Kevin and Weimin had the closest doubles winning 11-8 against Chris and Malcolm as well as winning two singles each.
The next weekend saw the battle for the Angell Shield, this third of the top-of-the-south shields was fought for by Juniors.
The final score was 23-17 to Nelson.
The boys' team of Finn Brown, Joshua Pigott , Dimitri Bell and David Pigott beat their Marlborough counterparts 11-5.
Finn, who was also part of the winning Perry Shield showed his class, winning his four singles.
His toughest match was against Marlborough's number one, Rory Osborne, dropping the third set and eventually winning by 11-5, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4.
Joshua, who played a big part in Nelson's Couper Shield win on August 7, also won his four singles.
He had a great match with Drew Materoa, taking it 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 13-15, 17-15 with both boys really going for their shots.
Dimitri did well to beat Marlborough's number two and number four .
Young David Pigott tried hard in all of his matches and his attacking approach was rewarded with a win in his last singles.
The Girls' side of Iris Scott, Hannah McDonnell, Zoe Wing and Lilly McFarlane lost 9-7.
Iris led the way with four wins.
In her last two matches against Marlborough's top two players, Sophia Dillon and Tilly Watts she played positively to win by two points in the fifth set.
Hannah McDonnell backed her up with two wins and went close to Sophia in a five setter.
Zoe Wing beat the Marlborough number four while Lilly McFarlane tried hard against her more experienced opponents.
