12th J.I.C.Sinjoor Junior International
October 27th
2007 saw the second annual pilgrimage for the Whitstable
Internationals, comprising of Harry Steen, Kirsty Belchem, Hannah
Smith and Zoe Oldham. As they set off to Antwerp to compete in the
12th junior international J.I.C. Sinjoor tournament. The
trip across the water was fairly uneventful apart from the nice man
in white gloves at customs.
We arrived in Antwerp in
plenty of time as we were not booked to bowl till 4pm. So we headed
straight for the hotel, having arrived at forty towers (its great
what people can do with computers as it looked so lovely on the
internet) we were told that our rooms where not ready due to staff
shortages. We left the cars and headed to the bowl. It’s amazing how
far ¼ mile is when you’re carrying 30lb of bowling balls.
Having checked out the
scores from the earlier squads we settled down for some lunch. What
a welcome break a bowl that served real home cooked food with a
pleasant waitress service. Unfortunately before the food had even
come out one of our young supporters decided to be violently ill and
redecorate the bowl floor. I was dually dispatched to the nearest
chemist and clothes store for medicine and clean clothes. Problem
one pharmacist speaks Flemish and I only speak English. After lots
of hand gestures and slow speaking not sure speaking slow made any
difference was handed some pills. Next came the cloths shop easy I
thought look through clothes take to counter and pay. No problem
except I found the only kids shop and probably the dearest one ever
£37 for a tee shirt. At least it came with a designer bag or at
least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
At the end of qualifying
on the first day the four bowlers bowled quite
well
with Harry finishing in 7th place with a 176 average (cut
being the top 8), Kirsty finishing in 2nd place with a
195 average (cut being the top 3) and Hannah finishing in 1st
place with a 172 average (cut being the top 3). Unfortunately
Zoe finished in 4th place with 140 average so she was out
of the running for this year. With nothing more to do till after the
next morning’s qualifying. It was time for the adults to take in the
sights and sound of the city well at least the nearest bar. Looks
like Harry and Mervin had been here before and left there mark.
After a leisurely
breakfast we all took to the city for some sightseeing.
Having
walked around for what seemed like a life time (mental note to self
next time the women want to go walking complain of bad leg and
retreat to bar) someone came up with the idea of finding somewhere
for lunch. Having been feed and watered we rang the bowl to see how
the qualifying was shaping up so we didn’t have to carry more balls
than was necessary. With one squad left to bowl all our hopes were
on Hannah as the other two had dropped out of the cut.
We arrived back at the
bowl just as the last squad finished and after a little wait the
scores were out, Hannah was down to 3rd place but still
in. Hannah started of the finals with a 197 against the Laura’s
(Belgium) 179 and Jamilla’s (Holland) 197. Game two things changed
around with Hannah bowling a 182 against the 225 of Laura and 201 of
Jamilla. Game three was not much better with a 180 from Hannah and
214 from Laura and 193 from Jamilla. So it was a third place podium
finish for Hannah this year.
All in all it was a great
weekend which I’m in no doubt we will do again next year.
Boys Div B Qualifying
Girls Div B Qualifying
Girls Div D Qualifying
Finals