Player Profiles

The table below lists the 50 players whose entry was accepted by the WCF plus 10 wild cards which have been allocated by the WCF. Four further players made it to the tournament though the qualifying event.

Country	Player	Player Portrait
Australia	Owen Edwards	Owen is formerly a keen pennant tennis and squash player and squash referee. He was the 2001 Australian Open Golf Croquet Champion. Before his retirement he was Communications Manager for a multinational company and is now the National Director of Refereeing for Croquet Australia.
Australia	Tony Hall	Tony has been playing croquet for fifteen years. He is the current NSW Open Singles Champion in Golf Croquet and Canberra Croquet Club Champion in Association Croquet. He has played in the last three WCF World Golf Croquet Championships with a best placing of 20 in Cairo in 2000. His best world ranking in Association Croquet was 73 in 2001. He was President of the World Croquet Federation from 1999 to 2003 and during that time visited all the member countries. He was Convenor of the Golf Croquet Working Party which published the first WCF Golf Croquet Rules in 1998 and is currently Chairman of the WCF Golf Croquet Rules Committee. He is a widower with three children and 7 grandchildren.
Austria	Klaus Gollhofer	Klaus, 33, was born in Salzburg in Austria. He is married and is father of two boys and a daughter. Educated as a brew master he lives and works in Hamburg for a brewery management company. He started playing croquet in Austria few years ago and plays regularly at the Croquet Club in Hamburg. In 2003 he was the runner up at the first Austrian Association Croquet Championships as well as at the German Golf Croquet Championships.
Austria	Leopold Walderdorff	36 year old Leopold is married and lives in Salzburg and works for a private forest estate in Salzburg. He is the croquet pioneer in Austria and started playing garden croquet several years ago before he heard about association croquet. He was the founder of the Austrian croquet federation and of the first club in Austria. Austria’s membership in the World and European Croquet Federation was his achievement. In 2003 he won the first Austrian championships in Association Croquet.
Belgium	Jonathan Lamb	Jonathan, 49, is Poet in Residence at the Economist Group newspaper 'European Voice'. When not writing and performing comic verse he works at the European Commission in Brussels, where he lives with his Uruguayan wife and two daughters. In Golf Croquet he won the doubles event at the 1996 Milan World Championships, and reached a singles ranking of 28 after the 2000 World Championships in Cairo. In Association Croquet he won the Plate at the 2003 European Championships and Swiss Open. His other interests are backgammon, scrabble, cartooning and the UK TV game Countdown.
Belgium	Tony Falcon-Uff	Tony played in 2000 Worlds in Cairo and was a member of the victorious European team v. England at Southwick in 2001. He is the current Belgian Champion. For relaxation Tony plays s backgammon between croquet innings and skis in the off-season. He is an Internet portal consultant and designs and builds left-handed mallets in his spare time.
Egypt	Khalid Younis	A physical fitness coach Khaled’s home base is the El Shams Club in Cairo. He has won several titles in Egypt for both singles and doubles play, together with titles from England and the United States. A competitor in the World Championships he was the World Champion in 1996, 1998, and 2002
	Salah Hassan	Salah, despite owning and managing restaurants in Cairo, Alexandria and Hurghada, finds time to play most of his croquet at the Shooting Club in Cairo. He has won several national championships in Egypt and was runner up at the last championships in Florida after being World Champion in 1997 and 2000
	Walid Salah	Walid is well known to international players as he has played in three previous World Championships, gaining two second and one third places in the rankings. He is married with one child and is a Manager at the Ramsis Hilton Hotel. During his playing career to date he has won 30 different titles
	Sherif Abusbaa	Sherif who is married with two children is a hotel executive and a long standing member of the Gezirah Club. He enjoys playing both mens and mixed doubles alongside his successful record in Egyptian league and national events. He played in the Florida Championships in 2002 gaining an overall 5th place.
	Mrs Naheed Hassan	Naheed, a practising lawyer who is married with two children, began her playing career at the Zamalek Club in 1974. She played in the World Championships in 1997, 1998 and 2000 and has been the Egyptian Lady Singles Champion five times. She has also won titles in ladies doubles and mixed doubles.
	Mrs Manal Ali Mohsen	Manal, known to her friends as Kouki, has a degree from Cairo University in Economics and Political Sciences. She is married with two children and only started to play golf croquet in 2000. She is a member of the Gezira Golf Croquet Team winners of the Egyptian Cup in both 2002 and 2003. On a personal front she won the award for best player in her club in 2002. She ranks amongst the highest lady players both nationally and within her club.
	Mohamed Nasr	Mohamed is 23 and works as a trainer at the Semouha Club in Alexandria He is a very keen player and has won a number of championships within Egypt. He at present holds second position in the Egyptian rankings
	Ahmed Nasr	Together with his twin brother Mohamed, Ahmed, who tops the national rankings, is also based at the Semouha Club as a croquet coach. At present serving with the Egyptian army he is looking forward to playing in England. He gives his hobbies as listening to music and playing billiards.
	Mostafa Eissa	Mostafa, who works as an engineering Spare Parts Manager is a member of the Semouha Club. In 2003 he was the Egyptian Champion.
	Hazem Mahmoud	Working as a Manager for a computer company, Hazem, who is married with a daughter, is a member of the Sporting Club in Alexandria. Ranked at number four in the Egyptian system, he enjoys play in both singles and doubles.
England	Stephen Mulliner	Stephen 50, is a senior executive with Old Mutual plc, an international financial services group, and non-executive chairman of James Smith Estates plc, a property investment company. He has been playing Association and Golf Croquet since 1976 and is the chairman of the CA Management Committee. He was the 2000 and 2001 British Open Golf Croquet champion, was second in 2003 and represented England in both the 2000 and 2002 World Golf Croquet Championships. He is married to Sarah and they have four children aged 20 to 14.
	Chris Sheen	Chris Sheen, 56, is managing director of a food manufacturing business. He has been playing croquet for all his life starting in the garden as soon as he could walk. He is currently English National Champion and also, with brother Roddy, UK Open Doubles Champion. In the past he has won the Italian Open (2000), UK Open Doubles (2000, 2002), and English National Doubles (2000, 2001,2002).
	Ivor Brand	Ivor is a successful PE teacher at a large city high school in Worcester. He has been playing croquet for over 20 years and has been a keen supporter of the golf variation throughout. He has represented England in every World championship to date, enjoying the camaraderie as much as the actual playing. In the last two years he has reached the final of both the Open and Closed Championships. This has secured his reputation as one of the top class players in the country.
	Samantha Curry	Sam is a founder member of The Ripon Spa Hotel Croquet Club. She has played for England in the past and has a handicap of -3. Last year her glorious moment came when she beat World Champion Khaled Younis at The Yorkshire International Open, and is utterly convinced that he let her win because he is so charming!
	Derek Old	Derek is a retired engineer, married to Jaqui who is also a keen Golf Croquet player. They have two sons and nine grandchildren. Derek, now 67 only started playing croquet in 1994 and won his first national championship in 1997. He was selected for the English team in the world championship in 1998 and has played in all the championships since then. He is a regular at all the major Golf Croquet events in the UK and has won quite a number of events over the last few years.
	Roy Ware	Roy is 61 and first started playing at the Somerset West Club in South Africa. In 1988 he returned to England and joined Ramsgate Croquet Club. He served ten years on the committee and acted as tournament secretary for about twelve years. The change to the laws of Golf Croquet led to Roy taking a more active interest in this version of the game leading to him playing for England and participating in the last World cup in Florida. Roy has promoted Golf Croquet through the Ramsgate International Tournament which had Reg Bamford and Khaled Younis playing in the final. This tournament led to the Ramsgate Club being able to form a very active and successful Junior section with youngsters from 9 to 15 participating.
	John Moore	The exponent of some of the most legendary jump shots in Golf Croquet, John has sadly struggled for form over the past year. However, he is a previous winner of the Italian and Belgian Opens, was runner-up in a thrilling British Open final in 2000, and put up a brave fight in the quarter-finals of the European Championships last September. Away from croquet he is a keen athlete, once representing his county at 800 metres. He enjoys the theatre, doing crosswords, travelling, and listening to Roger Whittaker music. His website can be found at www.johnmoore.me.uk
	David Hopkins	David became interested in golf croquet when he took a sabbatical from eye surgery five years ago and he won the all England Handicap event in 1999. At theYorkshire Open Tournaments and Ramsgate, he has played leading Egyptian players and won a doubles event in 2001 with Yasser Esmet. David’s clubs are Compton and Somerset West, South Africa. Currently, he holds South Africa’s most prestigious golf croquet trophy. “The Level Best”. He lives in Eastbourne with his wife Anne and has four daughters, a son and four grandchildren. His other interests include golf, tennis, walking and bridge.
	Don Beck	Don is a part time consultant and a full-time parent. A founder of the Medway CC, he has recently moved to Surrey and is now a Surbiton member. When not playing or coaching, his interests include travel, sport and listening to his daughter's music. Don has plauyed in the five previous world championships and having seen the standard improve each time is looking forward to some tough competition.
	Tom Weston	Tom began to play golf croquet seriously in 1998 after playing association croquet for six years in Jersey, whom he represented in the World Championship in Australia in 1997. He came second in the English National Championship in 1999. In 2001 he played in the England v Rest of Europe test match in 2001 and started the Dorset team in the Golf Croquet Inter Counties Championship. He won the plate event in the Florida World Championship and won the national doubles title with Nelson Morrow in 2003..
	Bill Arliss	Bill was weaned away from Golf (little white ball type) in 1989, quickly took to association croquet and was playing for his county, Sussex, within four years. He also took great interest in the administration of the sport and in 1998 became Chairman of his national association. During his chairmanship he realised the potential of Golf Croquet for attracting new players into croquet clubs and from 1999 to 2003 took on the Chairmanship of the Golf Croquet Committee of the Croquet Association. He now plays both formats of the game and played in the 2000 and 2002 World Golf Croquet Championships and is a member of the WCF Golf Croquet rules committee.
France	Jean-Yves Guermont	Jean-Yves began to play at 16 years old in France with a beach croquet mallet and learned Croquet with French team players. He was winner of the French junior Championship in 1990 and several times winner of the "Alpes’ cup" (France, Italy, Switzerland). He represented France in the World Association Croquet Championship in 1995 and played in the European Association Croquet Championship in 2003. This is his first entry in an international Golf Croquet event.
Germany	Bruno Hess	Bruno 44, lives in Schifferstadt, Germany. He works for DaimlerChrysler in Mannheim as graduate in business management. Bruno started playing croquet tournaments in 1999 and has since won 5 National Championships. His hobies are travelling, sports, music and chess.
Germany	Alex Kirsten	Alexander, 30, runs a small printing business in Leipzig. Beside Croquet he is interested in classic cars and likes snowboarding and surfing. He started to play croquet in 1999 on a small private back lawn and has played in 3 international tournaments since 2002. It´s his second participation in the World Championships.
Ireland	Mark McInerney	Mark, 20, is a zoology student at University College Dublin. His hobbies are soccer, hill walking and playing guitar. He won the Irish Golf Croquet Championship in 1998 and European Championship in 1999 and then took a break from croquet. In 2003 he won the Irish Golf Croquet Championship and retained the European Golf Croquet Championship. He claims that lack of funding prevents any further participation in International Golf Croquet events.
	Evan Newell
	Andy Johnston	Andrew 24, is relatively new to golf croquet. Having played association croquet since he was 16, golf croquet was a natural extension of the game. He returned from a year and a half abroad, playing rugby and croquet in Australia and New Zealand and is starting out on his investment banking career in Europe. In his short playing career he has won the Irish Golf Croquet title in 2002. This is his first World Championship and he is hoping for a solid performance.
	Carl Von Schmieder	Carl came to Ireland 1964. He started to play Association Croquet in 1974 and has since represented Ireland many times. He came 3rd in the European Golf Croquet Championship in Dublin in 2003.
Italy	Paulo de Petra	Paolo 37, took up croquet in 1989 and played in various international tournaments. In 2002 he finished 7th at the World Golf Croquet Championships in West Palm Beach (U.S.A.). His interests include classical music, trekking, mountain biking, tennis, graphics and photography.
Italy	Andrea Pravettoni	Andrea, a Computer Science Engineer, is the current Italian Golf Croquet Champion. He started playing croquet in 1993 and represented Italy in all the previous World Golf Croquet Championships, his best result being the 18th place in Cairo in 1997. His other interests include listening to music and reading, especially fantasy novels.
I of M	Kevin Garrad	Kevin, 50 (and will be 51 during the Championships!), single again, has twin 25 year old daughters. He is a Computer Consultant working in the Life Assurance industry, currently working in the Netherlands. He has represented the Isle of Man at the 2000 World Golf Croquet Championships in Cairo, and both the 1999 European Championships in Leamington Spa and the 2003 European Championships in Dublin, finishing about half-way on each occasion. He was also a member of the victorious Rest of Europe team in its one international versus England. Not a true Manxman, he has lived in Ramsey for 10 years. Past Chairman of the IoM CA he has won both the IoM Golf Croquet and Association Croquet Championships on many occasions. On the Association Croquet front Kevin has represented the Isle of Man in the 2002 World Championships in New Zealand and the European Championships on 7 occasions.
Japan	Miichan Yuji Togao	Yuji 27, works at Japanese Securities as custody of stocks. He belongs to Taisei croquet club which is one of the most sophisticated clubs in the Japan Croquet Association. He has only been playing Golf Croquet for six months and this will be his first championship. He believes he has the potentiality to improve considerably and is very much looking forward to playing in England.
New Zealand	Don Reyland	Feisty Don Reyland has seven lawns to choose from at his home and club Te Mata in Havelock North. Having played Association Croquet for 8 years Don started to play Golf Croquet as a serious game 6 years ago while continuing a line of successes in the Association game. Don has won the New Zealand Open singles at the National golf Croquet championships 3 times out of the six he has attended. He is looking forward to at the forthcoming World Championships and meeting old friends from the same event in Cairo in 2000.
	Peter Batchelor	Peter has been playing croquet for around about twenty years, and currently holds the NZ Doubles title in Association Croquet. He was winner of the Gold Star at the NZCC Golf Croquet Gold and Silver Stars in October 2003 and runner-up at the March 2004 NZ Golf Croquet Nationals. Peter was selected to play in the WCF Association Croquet Championships in Wellington in 2002. This will be his first ever trip to the UK and says just being involved in this event will be fantastic. He is aged 48, married to Nola with one son and works at New Zealand Post. His interests are Prophecy, Profiteering, Philanthropy, Ethnomusicology and of course, croquet.
	Nelson Morrow	Nelson started playing Golf Croquet only two years ago but in that time has won both the English National Singles (2002) and Doubles (2003) Championship titles. During 2003 he had also won two inaugural events, The Surbiton Open and The Musk Cup (the top 8 invitation). Nelson has played in the last two Association Croquet World Championships , but this is his first Golf Croquet event. He has lived in London for nearly 30 years, where he runs his own interior design company, Morrow Reis Designs. He is a left-handed Irish Grip croquet player, like his cousin, Dennis Bulloch.
	Dennis Bulloch	A lesser-known fact about Dennis Bulloch is that he is a left-handed Irish Grip croquet player who has played croquet since 1969. He is the current holder of the New Zealand Open Championship title as well as being the winner of the Premier Grade in the New Zealand Golf Croquet Grade Championships. Dennis is a former teacher who has also owned an antique store, trodden the boards for more than 30 years and has recently sold his restaurant business to concentrate on renovating his newly acquired house in Blenheim.
Palestine	Dr Khalil El-Haj	Khalil is a 61 year old business man. He has participated in many Egyptian National Gol;f Croquet Championships and three world championships. He is a member of the Shams Club in Cairo and is married with one daughter. He is President of the Palestine Croquet Association and is also a keen marksman.
Scotland	Rod Williams	Aged 62, Rod retired in 1997 from a position as Director of Information Technology Services at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. He first played Association Croquet for Scotland in 1978, and since then has played in many international matches for his country, most recently against Switzerland in 2003. He started playing Golf Croquet in 1996 and represented Scotland at the WCF Golf Croquet Championship at Cairo in 1997 and at Leamington Spa in 1998. He also represented Scotland at the European Championships at Leamington in 1999. He has won the Scottish Golf Croquet Championship twice: in 1999 and in 2002. His hobbies include hill walking and holidaying in interesting places.
Scotland	Jamieson Walker	Jamieson is a retired Senior Lecturer in the the School of Medicine, Edinburgh University. He is Chairman of the Meadows Croquet Club in Edinburgh - home of the Scottish National Croquet Centre and plays Association Croquet in and for Scotland. He has represented Scotland in the World Golf Croquet Championships in Cairo, and is interested in promoting Golf Croquet in Scotland. Otherwise he travels, walks, and plays squash.
South Africa	Reg Bamford	Reg, 35, is a Chartered Accountant from South Africa. He has lived in England for the last 12 years, and is married with an 18 month old son. He founded and runs 1st Contact, a Consumer and Business Services company, employing over 400 staff internationally. He has been ranked number 1 or 2 in the world for the past 6 years, and won the World Championship in 2001 in the Association Game. A relative newcomer to Golf Croquet, Reg is still considered one of the favourites for the title.
	Peter Millson	English born Peter Millson is the senior Golf Croquet referee in South Africa and chairman of the thriving Somerset West Croquet Club. He has served on both the South African Croquet Association Committee and on the Western Province Croquet Association (as Vice-President). He is passionately fond of this discipline of Croquet and is in the process of stamping the English Croquet Association's method of handicapping on South African Golf Croquet players at every level. Apart from a foray in the English Open two years ago this will be Peter's first attempt at "the Big-time International Game" and he keenly anticipates meeting the great names of Golf Croquet in June.
	Grahame Tomes	Grahame is managing director and a partner in an advertising company. He is married to Sharon and has three children. His croquet playing career spans 35 years and three continents. Grahame is a member of the Somerset West Croquet Club (near Cape Town). He is the reigning South African National Golf Croquet Open Singles Champion and has also been the Provincial Golf Croquet Open Singles Champion (Western Province / Cape Town) for three out of the last five years and the Club champion for four years out of the last five.
	Hans van Noord	Hans van Noord was born in Amstelveen near Amsterdam, Holland. He arrived in Cape Town on 4 April 1952 with £25 in his pocket, which he promptly spent at the Van Riebeeck Festival. He settled in Johannesburg where he is renowned as a confectioner. On his retirement in 1994 he took the ‘pleasure’ job of teaching at Anchor Yeast. He learnt his croquet during holidays at Mount Carmel, near George, and joined Observatory Park CC (now Paterson Park CC) in 1987. He soon brought his handicap down to a single figure and is a formidable competitor in both Association and Golf Croquet. He spends his time travelling over South Africa playing in as many tournaments as he can.
Sweden	Anton Varnas	Anton is 29 years old, and has been playing croquet in Cuculidae Croquet Club, Stockholm, since 1995. He has won several medals in Swedish championships but this is the first time he represent Sweden in an international competition. Anton is Chief Executive Officer in a financial software company but takes also an active part as an owner in Real estate and industrial companies in Sweden.
Switzerland	Norman Eatough	Norman has been Chairman of CERN Croquet Club since its formation in 1982 and Chairman of the Swiss Croquet Association since its foundation in 1991. He has won the Swiss Advanced championship four times and the Swiss golf croquet championship six out of the eight times it has been played. He has played in many European championships, and in several World hampionships, Association and golf croquet, He has represented Switzerland in numerous internationals since 1991.Now aged 71, he retired end 1994 from CERN, the European Nuclear Research Organisation in Geneva and can now devote more time to his other interests, namely tennis, ski-ing, hiking, mountaineering (incl. Mont Blanc) and photography, giving slide shows on numerous subjects, notably `Hiking the Grand Canyon' (after the 1992 World Championship in Newport R.I.), `Egypt' after the 2000 World Golf Croquet championship in Cairo, India and Nepal, etc.`Play croquet and see the world': when playing abroad, Norman tacks on several days for touring wherever he is. Long may it last!
	Peter Payne	Peter is 44, recently married, and has been playing croquet since 1989. Over the past 15 years, he has won a fair number of Swiss Championships, as well as certain other events. He came 7th in last year's European Golf Croquet Championship and would be delighted to do better at this year's World Championship. Peter is President of the Fédération Européenne de Croquet and is a member of the Management Committee of the World Croquet Federation. He is also very active in croquet administration in his home country, Switzerland. In his spare time, he heads the Offshore Portfolio Management Team for Coutts Bank in Geneva, and counts philately, gardening, cooking, reading and exhorting his laptop computer to greater and better things amongst his favourite occupations.
	Hossam Fares	Hossam is a 37 years old Egyptian living in Switzerland since 2001 with his wife and daughter. Working with Tetra Pak International as Business Development Manager for Europe & Africa. He started golf croquet in 1985 at the Gezira club & three years later became a regular team member representing his club in most official leagues and individual tournaments winning a few titles on both club & personal levels. He won the Swiss title for golf croquet after fierce competition with Norman Etough & Peter Payne in 2002. His other interest include football, squash, reading & traveling, after moving to Switzerland he picked others hobbies such as skiing & roller blading.
USA	Sherif Abdelwahab	Sherif is married to Sheryl and they live in Warwick, Rhode Island. He has represented the USCA in all World Golf Croquet championships and is a member of the Newport Croquet Club. He has been a member of the USCA for 15 years and is the owner of Sphinx Cleaning Service.
	Mik Mehas	Mik is very active in both association and golf croquet. He is the current US Golf Croquet Champion, Doubles Champion and Seniors Champion. He has won 12 US titles in total. His best performance in golf croquet was as runner up in the 1998 championship at Leamington
	Stewart Jackson	Stewart 53, grew up playing croquet in East Hampton, NY. He studied at Kent School, Monmouth School in Wales, and the University of Pennsylvania. After college, he worked in the newspaper business, and ended his career in 1990 as Publisher of the New Haven Register and Journal Courier. At that time, he and his wife, Josie, set off on a world cruise on their sailboat. It was in New Zealand that they discovered the proper game of croquet, and began competing in the six wicket game. Stewart earned a fourth in the Nationals, and a silver badge in the Northland A division in 1992. He also won the 2003 U. S. National Golf Croquet Championships.
	Len Canavan	Len, 66, is a tennis pro at a Private Country Club in Vero Beach, Florida in which the tennis department took over the running of the croquet program. The club has a beautiful full sized croquet court right on the edge of the ocean. He is Chairman of the USCA Golf Croquet Committee, a U.S Team Member and was Assistant Tournament Manager in the 2002 World's Golf Croquet Championships held at the National Croquet Center in Palm Beach, Florida. He first picked up a croquet mallet in 1998 and in recent years has became very involved in Golf Croquet.
	Dick Brackett	Dick is currently a zero handicapper in the American Six-Wicket game. He has been involved in croquet since 1987, when he was introduced to the game as a corporate sponsor (The Boston Company) at the National Championships in Newport, Rhode Island. He has been a member of the USCA Management Committee for 11 years, first as treasurer for 8 years and now as president.
Wales	Cliff Jones	Cliff is very active both with Golf and Association Croquet, managing several Tournaments each year around the country as well as coaching courses and referee courses. He started playing in 1989. Supposedly now semi-retired, still finds himself working a full week as a statistician and private chef within the catering industry. This is Cliff's first Golf Croquet World Championship and he is greatly looking forward to the event.
Wales	Kevin Ham	Kevin has not given his age but says he has had his inaugural copy of the Saga magazine. He has been playing croquet for half my life and started playing Golf Croquet in the European championship in 1999. Since then he has played at the 2002 World championship, and played for rest of Europe against England. Off the croquet field he is involved with amateur dramatics and folk dancing.

Flags courtesy of ITA's Flags of All Countries used with permission.