Queensland Women and NSW Men take National titles
Queensland played Victoria in a replay of the 2016 Women's final with the outcome this time Queensland dominant at 20:9 (13:2). Victoria represented in both finals, with their Men again in a close game against NSW. After a tough match NSW claimed victory to regain a title they'd not held for six years with 24:20 (13:9). Victoria finished the event with silver in both categories.
In the Women’s playoff for third, New Zealand defeated Western Australia 22:20 (11:10) and the fifth place match saw New South Wales win over the Australian Capital Territory in a close fought 17:15 (11:8).
For then Men, the Australian Capital Territory defeated Queensland in a very tight and thrilling one point match to be 29:28 (17:12) and Western Australia placed fifth overall.
The finals mirrored the top rankings after the preliminaries. For the men, after the preliminary rounds, these were NSW, Victoria, Queensland, ACT and then WA. In the Women’s it was Queensland, Victoria, New Zealand, WA, NSW and then ACT.
Top Scorers for the event were Ana Medjed (Vic) for the Women and Karl Warrener (ACT) for Men. Top goalkeepers were Tara van der Post (Qld) for Women and James Plowman (ACT) for Men. Best and Fairest awarded to Ana Medjed (Vic) for the Women and Tomasz Szklarski (NSW) Men.
The Australian Open National Championships were held in Sydney at the Blacktown Sport and Leisure Centre in Stanhope Gardens between October 5-8. Check out the great action on the Handball Australia Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/handballaustraliamain.
Photo credit: Bob Wood