An 83 year-old congregational member of St Philip’s Church, Birchencliffe, and tennis champion helped Team GB win silver medals at the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF’s) Super Senior World Tennis Championships at the beginning of the month.
The Championships took place in Umag, Croatia, between the end of September and the beginning of October and Mrs Mary Durrans was a member of the over 80’s team which represented our country at the competition.
Out of the nine teams taking part, Mary and her team mates beat France (who were seeded one), Germany and Argentina among others during the competition, but were unfortunately beaten by the USA in the final earning them the silver medal.
Mrs Mary Durrans says, “It was a great thrill to win the silver! We are the second best over 80's team in the world - a lovely thought!”
“There were nine teams in the Championships and everyone was very friendly even though we were unable to communicate because of the language.”
In Team GB, Mary was joined by Pam McGrath, Mary’s 80-year-old doubles partner from Preston (far left); 82-year-old Ann Williams (middle left); and 80-year-old June Pearce (far right).
Each of the points earned by the players in their singles and doubles games were collected and counted for the team as a whole, earning the group their silver medals.
The other countries taking part in the tournament included France, Germany, Argentina, USA, New Zealand, Sweden, Australia and Ukraine.
Mary will have some time to put up her feet and relax over Christmas though, as she has no more competitions until the ITF’s British Open Seniors Indoor Championships in Dudley at the end of January.