Our third annual gateball tournament took place on February 24th/25th. Lithgow Mayor, Stephen Lesslie, opened the tournament with the traditional shot through our 'ceremonial gate'.
Two years ago, as a thunderstorm raged around them, the Lithgow players were pondering suitable names for their team. Lightning was a natural choice and, as the number of players grew, teams Thunder and Storm joined the list.It had been a great tournament until then. Seven teams took part; one each from Canberra and Newcastle, two from Epstars and three from Lithgow. We played a round robin on the Saturday With not enough time to play a second round robin we played a modified seeded double elimination knockout on Sunday
The round robin was very even, one team on 4 wins, 5 teams on 3 wins and one on 2 wins. The knockout provided some interesting games and finally the two finalists were decided – Canberra and Lithgow Lightning. But as we prepared for the final, thunder and lightning descended and a discussion took place between the two teams who agreed that the last game should be abandoned and a draw declared.The Lithgow Mercury gave us fantastic coverage of the event, as you can see here.
http://www.lithgowmercury.com.au/story/5256086/lithgow-hosts-earn-pride-of-place-in-gateball-competition/?cs=1590