Honours by year

Zaif Minhas won the 2016 Rob Milliner Summer Handicap Tournament by beating Mark Lilley by the magic golden point in a terrific final on Sunday 2 October.

Zaif, who recently returned to the club after a brief time away, started on 80 whilst Mark, a previous winner of the Plate in this competition started on 70. The rallies were close throughout with the early exchanges shared between the pair which favoured Zaif who reached 90 whilst Mark was still in the late 70s.

After the first break, a concerted effort by Mark saw him score something like 10 unanswered points which allowed him to almost draw level before Zaif troubled the scorer once more.

Following the second break, Mark took the lead for the first time and at that point looked favourite to take the title but Zaif battled back once more to tie the scores on 99 and set up the deciding point which gave the spoils to him.

Ian Swallow won the 2016 Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament on Sunday 6 March beating Stephen Hanover 100 - 92 in the final.

Stephen has a considerable track record in this tournament, having won in 1998, 2011 and 2013, been runner-up in 2008 and won the plate in 2010. Ian had previously been runner-up in this tournament in 2014, the same year he won the Summer Handicap Tournament.

Starting on a level footing at 70 - 70, the couple traded point for point throughout the 70s and 80s and were rarely separated by more than a single point. As the match reached it’s end stages, however, Ian chased down every ball whilst Stephen’s dropshots increasingly found the tin, resulting in Ian taking the match 100 - 92.

James Jirgens won the Plate competition in the 2016 Rob Milliner Summer Handicap Tournament by beating Rakesh Gulati in the final on Sunday 2 October. Starting level on 75 all, James got off to a good start by taking the first few points before Rakesh recovered and made the most of the central passage of play and looked to have a commanding lead as the scores entered the 90s. James managed to pull his game back together, however and finished strongly to take the match 100 - 97.

Earlier in the evening, Rakesh had won the first Summer Racketball Tournament by beating Richard Crosbie 3 - 1 in the final.

Richard Patrick took the honours in a thrilling Plate final to the 2016 Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament on Sunday 6 March beating David Sledge, beaten finalist in last year's main event.

Starting on 65 to David's 75, Richard, a previous winner of the plate in 2006, took the first 7 points of the evening with a series of perfect lengths and devastating widths. Having finally managed to get on the scoresheet, David reached the 80 point milestone just 2 points ahead. Starting from this position, he was able to claw himself back into the match with some desperate retrieving backed up by a series of long range backhand dropshots which allowed him to reach every 5 point milestone ahead of Richard and even open up a significant lead in the mid 90's.

Richard did not throw in the towel though and battled back to reach 98 before David gained matchpoint. After successfully defending the matchpoint on David's serve, it seemed a mere formality that he would land the coup de grace on the next point which proved to be the case. It was a terrific end to an exciting final that had initially threatened to be a very mundane affair.