The Eastern Counties region open doubles tournament was held at the Rayne Swan on Bank holiday Monday and it was an excellent days play with some superb petanque skills on show.

After 4 games each, the top 8 players went through to the knockout stages and John Edmundson & Andy Rees from East Midlands progressed to the semi finals where they defeated Sharon Towers & Rachid Hannache 13-6.
The other semi was between Phil Claydon & Miles Gooda from Chiltern region & Stone Williams & Joe Sheffield from East Midlands. The Chiltern pair finally won a very long and intriguing tactical game 13-11.
The final was a show of precise pointing followed by accurate shooting, up until the score reached 6 all. A loose end by the Leicester pair of Edmundson & Rees let the Chiltern boys in for 5 points to take an 11-6 lead. Claydon & Gooda wrapped it up on the next end winning 13-6.
Of the 8 teams in the knockout stages of the plate competition, local players Mark Sainsbury & Paul Linehan reached the final but were defeated by Daniel Hill & Merle Sullivan from London. Hill was shooting everything in his way with pinpoint accuracy which saw them to a 13-4 win.
The consolage was won by Bob Wilmot & Alison Sutherland who defeated Eileen Carter & young Charlie Littleton.