WEYBURN – Weyburn pickleball player Deana Mainil came home with three medals from the 2023 Pickleball Canada Western Regional Championships, held July 6-9 in Medicine Hat, Alta.
A total of 518 players competed on 20 outdoor and 10 indoor courts.
Deana competed in Women’s Doubles 4.0 (ages 19 – 59) on Thursday with partner Zsuzsa Papp from Saskatoon. They had nine teams in this division.
All games on A side were were best-of-three games to 11, winning by two points. Once a team was knocked to the B side, games went to 15, winning by two.
In their first match, versus Tracy Sully and Young Yhun, they won 11-2 and 11-3.
Deana’s partner pulled a calf muscle at the end of this match, so she got medical attention and played on.
In the second match, versus sisters Deb Widdis and Bonita Ewasechko, they lost the first game 11-9 and then won the next two 11-8 and 12-10.
In their third match, versus Angela Plamondon and Katlynn Soroka, Deana and her partner won the first game 11-9, and then lost the next two games by scores of 11-8 and 11-4, which bumped them to the B event.
In their fourth match, versus Sheila Crouch and Claudia Obando, they lost 15-5, and ended up with the bronze medal.
Deana played Mixed Doubles 4.5 (ages 50 and above) on Saturday with partner David Hesje from Elbow in a pool of seven teams, with the same format as Women’s Doubles.
In their first match, versus Lisa Stechly and Darrell Orth, they lost their first game 11-6 and then won their next two by scores of 11-9 and 12-10.
In the second match, versus Melody Fischer and Norman Kowalchuk, they won 11-6 and 11-3.
In the third match, versus Brenda Hawryluk and Steve Elder, they won the first game 13-11, but then lost the next two 11-2 and 11-8, knocking them to the B side.
In their fourth match, versus Melody Fischer and Norman Kowalchuk, they won 15-8.
This brought Deana and David back to the gold medal match where they once again had to play Brenda Hawryluk and Steve Elder in the fifth match. We won our first game 11-6, but then lost the next two 11-2 and 11-5 to earn the silver medal.
Deana played in the women’s singles 3.5 and over (ages 50-59) event on Sunday. This was a round robin with five players. Each match was one game to 15, winning by two, and Deana went on to win the gold medal.
