It was a great weekend for Salmon Arm.
Jeremy Bell’s regular doubles partner, West Martin-Patterson of Salmon Arm, was too busy to play, so Salmon Arm’s Bob Langford stepped in as a replacement.
The combination worked beautifully as Langford and Vernon’s Bell claimed the men’s A doubles title in the 88th Hankey Cup Doubles Tennis Championships Sunday night at the Kalamalka Country Club in Vernon.
About 80 participants came from Calgary, central B.C., and the Okanagan, entertaining spectators with high-calibre tennis.
Bell and Langford stopped Ken Cheung and Brandon Fung of Kelowna 6-5, 2-6, 10-6 (tiebreaker) in the finals. Cheung and Fung played a match in the ITF Futures tournament in Kelowna the previous day.
For the 44-year-old Bell, it was his second straight Hankey Cup victory after a few years of tough luck in the event.
“While it was disappointing that my regular doubles partner, West Martin-Patterson (of Salmon Arm), couldn’t play due to family commitments on Saturday, it was fun to team up with Bob Langford who I met in the early 1990s in Vancouver,” said Bell.
“Bob is a great guy and a solid doubles partner who gets the job done. He stays level-headed and is particularly strong mid-court. All of our matches were enjoyable with some competitive teams pushing us to play our best.”
It was a big double weekend for Langford, who also won the mixed A doubles, teaming with Kelowna’s Eva Koksalova and defeating Rosie and Joe Schaich of Kelowna 8-2 (pro set scoring) for the championship.
In the ladies’ B doubles, Loree Boyd and Deedee Shattock of Salmon Arm iced Lea Poirier and Diana Kerr of Kamloops, 6-5, 6-4 in the final.
In one of the semis, Vernon’s Barb Klopfenstein and Diana Anderson lost 6-3, 6-1 to Boyd and Shattock.
In the men’s B doubles finals, the Kal Country Club veteran twosome of Ralph Stevens and Shane Valouch brushed back Vernon’s Joe McFadden and Joe Groves 6-3, 6-4.
Stevens and Valouch have pocketed this crown twice.
Salmon Arm’s Malcolm Shattock and Steve Bradwell from also played in men’s B doubles, losing in the semi-finals to the eventual winners from Vernon.
Doug Ross of Salmon Arm played in men’s A doubles. He didn’t get through to the semi finals but played well nonetheless.
