Lawn Bowls / Ramat Gan sweeps past Ra'anana

Upon winning the annual Wingate Fives tournament in Netanya Saturday, claiming the Andre Spitzer Trophy, Ramat Gan became the first club to win the competition three successive years since it commenced in 1985.

Ramat Gan and Ra'anana raced for the top honors, with the issue settled right down to the last games of the day. Ra'anana started off its two morning games promisingly - winning the overall singles, and sharing the points with Ramat Gan in the fours, leaving their club at the start of the afternoon games in the pairs and trips with a five point-lead over Ramat Gan.

But it was Ramat Gan which then excelled: Its triples team won that event with Ra'anana finishing third; while in the pairs Ramat Gan had an outright win against Ra'anana for the overall third position.

In the two games, Ramat Gan finished eight points ahead of Ra'anana to achieve the overall win with 40 points. Ra'anana followed with 37. Haifa's 30 points were good enough for third, with Savyon settling for fourth with 29.

Ramat Gan's Itzik Sher skipped two teams to victory, going unbeaten in the preliminary rounds with Chaim Shneider, Zvi Bekier and Aryeh Kremer in the fours and Dror Zomberg and Zvi Bekier in the trips.

Ramat Gan's foursome bested the Ra'anana lineup of Colin Siblerstein, Alan Saitowitz, David Trappler and Israel Meushar, while its trio triumphed over Jerusalem's Tony Babot, Anatoli Donde and Boaz Leicht, who'd done well enough to reach the final.

For the youthful Sher, who is in his early 30s, it was a notable comeback to the game after a 15-year absence. In his teens, he was a member of Israel's junior under-25 side, which distinguished itself among the World Junior players. But after that, like most Israeli youth, Sher served his required years in the Israeli army. He then spent a number of years to qualify as a dental practitioner, which also took him away from lawn bowls. Upon returning to the game, he followed the well known adage - "it's like riding a bicycle, you never forget." Indeed he has not forgotten, and showed off his past skills - particularly his powerful on-target drives.

The prestigious Shmuel and Shifra Grant Trophy for the singles went to Ra'anana's Raymond Sher, who in the final accounted for Haifa's Yossi Greenberg, who had been unbeaten in his three previous rounds. In the pairs, Greenberg playing with Simcha Sagi won the David and Bernice Pillemer Trophy when they defeated Savyon's Moti Debbi and Eli Sofer, the Savyon pair having also performed well to reach the final.

In a special presentation, Haifa's Yossi Greenberg was awarded the "Sportsman of the Tournament" trophy, presented by Lorna Arenson in memory of her late husband, Selwyn, who'd brought many honors to his Netanya club, most recently the 2008 singles title.

Netanya captain Niel Bobrov- chief organizer of the tournament awarded the trophy memorializing Andre Spitzer, who was killed in the Munich Olympic massacre, to the Ramat Gan players.