Paramount member Glenn Armstrong said the tournament had up to 30 per cent more players than any other he’s played in this year.

Players coming from all across NSW including Port Macquarie, Forster, Wagga, Sydney and Wollongong competed, but the local players certainly handled the competition.

“We handled ourselves alright,” Armstrong said. “We won as many as we lost.”

Armstrong and fellow Dubbo player Wayne Dickinson took out both major doubles titles - the over-35s as well as the Combined Ages doubles played out on Saturday morning.

Both Armstrong and Dickinson are in the NSW Veterans’ team that will contest the Australian championships in Adelaide in January.

Armstrong said the weekend tournament was a good place to start in preparation for early next year.

“It’s not until January, but it’s a good hit,” he said.

“We’ll have to be hitting a lot more between now and then.”

Carolyn Campbell, who now lives in Newcastle will join the blokes in donning the blue to play in Adelaide.

All three were big winners at the weekend, with Campbell winning runner-up in the ladies singles, but she teamed up with Narelle Follington to take out the ladies doubles.

Armstrong was awarded the Doug Sell Memorial Trophy - just scraping past his doubles partner by one point with Dickinson settling for runner-up.

Karen Armstrong and Cindy Connelly missed out by two points on the female counterpart won by Mandy Wells.

The winner of the men’s singles was Mark O’Brien from Inverell while his brother took out the runner-up.

Geurie’s Ross Dunkley teamed up with Ken Taylor from Berry in the 70s doubles to win runners-up, while the Combined Doubles ladies final was between Wendy Cox and Mandy Wells (winners) and Dale Barnes and Robyn Rawlinson - all from Dubbo.

Armstrong said the quality of the players at the weekend lived up to his expectation.

“They were all in top form,” he said. “Everyone was in great form and the standard was very high.”

Everyone was in top form again on Saturday night when about 65 competitors went to the Amaroo Hotel for “a great feed and a good night”.

emily.wheeler@ruralpres s.com