SKITTLES: Dave eyes national glory (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SKITTLES: Dave eyes national glory

12:50pm Friday 21st September 2012 in Sport By Dan Barnes

DAVE Williams’ team are ready to fight for national glory when they compete in the Grand Finals of the Blackthorn British Skittles Championships in Torquay this weekend.

Williams captains Malmesbury-based side Dave’s Battlers, who are looking to make up for lost time after injury prevented them from having the full compliment in last year’s competition.

The Battlers’ main quest for glory will be in the mixed team competition at the Riviera International Conference Centre and the skipper isn’t short of confidence.

“We’re expected to win it and I think that we’re going to do it this year,” said Williams. “Last year, we couldn’t compete because I got a knee injury, so we really want to do well. We’ve pretty much always got to the finals and one of our team, Sara Trinder, went on her own last year and won the ladies’ competition.

“We’re going to have a men’s team too and some of us will be going down tomorrow to compete in the singles competitions but the mixed team event is the big one.”

The Battlers play out of Malmesbury Victoria Football Club’s Flying Monk Ground, with the team’s name a tribute to the captain’s own own nickname.

“When I was growing up, I was always known as ‘Battler’ and some people even just know me as that, rather than Dave,” he said.

“I played cricket and football when I was a youngster.

“When I was about five or six, I would play with all of the older lads and I’d be knocking them all over – people would say ‘he’s a battler’.

“So when we were looking for a team name, people thought Dave’s Battlers would be a good one.”

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