The Hampshire police tennis section is run by DCI Mark Ashthorpe and chaired by DCC Simon Cole. The section is open to any subscribing members of a sports and social club. The team plays in Regional and National PSUK competition.
Last year (2009) we hosted the national finals at Winchester. Hampshire had a total of 7 players who qualified through from the regional tournament; the most notable success in the finals was PS Debbie Ashthorpe and DC Claire Vincent coming runners up in the ladies vets.
We are keen to recruit new players of any standard but since we only play competitions and there are no club nights or training days it would be useful if you are of a competent standard. If in doubt please ask.
If you are interested in playing please get in touch with Mark Ashthorpe.
The section had another successful year in 2010. The PSUK regional tournament was held in Sussex in June but with a reduced team from Hampshire. Despite this there were some great performances by the whole team. Notable achievements were DCI Mark Ashthorpe and PC Nadine Talbot retaining their mixed doubles title against a very strong pair from Kent; and PCs Nadine Talbot and Claire Browne coming runners up to the TVP ladies pairing who were strong favourites.
The national finals were held in Lincolnshire in September and once again Nadine and Claire faced their nemesis in the form of the TVP pair. This was a very close fought game and testament to Claire and Nadine's fine performance was that their opponents went on to win the doubles title. Mark and Nadine won through to the semi finals of the tournament beating challenges from Essex and Wales on the way. The very experienced pair from GMP, however, proved too strong. Likewise the GMP pair went on to win the title.
