This guest post was written by Gamble Tournament Chair Brian Covernton.
This annual event is in honour of Ross “The Rabbit” Gamble who passed away in 1989 and was a member of VRC. Ross was a stand up guy and a keen doubles player. This year we celebrated the 33rd annual Gamble 100, 12th annual 75 event and first annual 50s event.
The Gamble is a handicap tournament based on the ages of the partners with the “100” event for older, more seasoned players and the “75” event for middle younger players (40/50ish) and the new “50”s event for young players (20/30s).
This year we had a record entry of fifty four (54) players who enjoyed a calcutta and dinner at VRC on December 5 to bid on 27 teams with 20% of the total bidding amount going to Autism Speaks Canada (ASC). In addition, $25 from each player entry in the tournament also goes to ASC as a donation with a tax receipt for the each participant. Further donations were raised through auction of items and additional points for teams. Some players donated some of their auction winnings too.
Play started Wednesday December 6 and finished with finals on Sunday December 10 at VRC.
Congratulations to the winners:
Gamble 100
Rick Ng/Doug MacDougall def Snehal Lakhani/Lynn Broman 3-1
Gamble 75
Mark Levey/Gareth Martin def Chris Wilson/Gary Evans 3-0
Gamble 50
Hussein Salemwala/Inderbir Hundal def Navin Samarasinghe/ Eduardo Flores 3-2
Many thanks to our supporters:
- Birdies and Balls Pro Shop (Paul Deziel)
-
Unsquashable
-
Harrow
-
Dunlop
-
Black Knight
-
Victor
- East Van Wear and Tattoo Co. (prize sweater)
- Promosapien
- Autism Speaks Canada
- Squash BC
- Isleptsowell.com (Erik Nilsson)
- Steamworks Brewing Co./Rogue Kitchen and Wetbar (Carl McCreath)
- Best Western Sands Hotel (Dallas Worthington)
- Graphic Design (Yasmine Franchi)
Thanks to VRC and VLTBC for the use of their facilities. A special thanks to my committee:
- Rip Peterman
- Tom Locke
- Yasmine Franchi
- Ernie Chan
- Dave Carter (VRC liason and Club Locker)
- Gary Wong for pictures and video
The tournament again raised over $5,000 for Autism Speaks Canada and I wish to thank all participants in supporting the tournament and the charity. View the full thank you poster, here.