Victoria wins the Interstate Challenge
VICTORIA won the Maccabi 90th Interstate Challenge when hundreds of athletes competed in basketball, netball and soccer matches in Melbourne on Sunday.
On the basketball court Victoria dominated its opposition with seven wins from seven games.
In the remaining 13 soccer and netball matches NSW picked up eight wins and a draw, but couldn’t overcome the deficit from the basketball matches.
Victoria won two games on the soccer pitch, both of the under-16 boys competition. The team defeated NSW 4-3 in the morning game and backed up to win 4-1 in the afternoon.
On the netball court Victoria’s under-16 team easily held out its NSW counterparts by winning 32-24 in the morning and then 29-19 in the afternoon.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Victorian teams. NSW’s under-14 soccer team dominated Victoria by scoring seven unanswered goals in the morning and then eight goals in the afternoon.
And on the netball court NSW’s under-14 team and open team both won two matches.
Maccabi Australia president Barry Smorgon said the days of sport were an unbelievable success.
“The standard and intensity of competition absolutely exceeded our realistic expectations,” Smorgon told The AJN.
He said that most of the games were very close, that the participants had a great time and that it will hopefully be bigger and better in 2016.
“Next year we will try and bring in Western Australia as well, and make the competition a trial and qualifier for Maccabiah as well.
“This is the start of a rejuvenation of Senior Carnival and although it won’t be the same as it used to be, with seven or eight days of competition in a row, it would be great to see all of the sports competing against each other in interstate competition regularly.”
Smorgon praised the entire weekend of festivities, which included a 90th anniversary reunion on Sunday afternoon.
“We’ll have a proper review later but I think we have definitely achieved our objectives, which include competitive sport on one hand and people gathering to celebrate Maccabi on the other hand.
“It was great to see everyone catching up at the reunion and remembering their time at Maccabi.”
Maccabi Victoria president Joe Dorfman said the sporting competition was absolutely fantastic.
“It was close, it was competitive and it was played in the right spirit across all age groups,” Dorfman said.
“Victoria’s rivalry with NSW has been renewed in a positive way and I think this lays the foundations for an annual sporting competition between the two biggest states.”
Dorfman paid tribute to the athletes, who competed in the right spirit, and the organisers, including Paul Platus, who made the event the success that it was.
“We can’t wait for the second round of competition next year.”
JOSHUA LEVI
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