After a very early start (for some of us on a Saturday morning !) the first Asian Regional Netball tournament kicked off in Bangkok at Patana school. Teams arrived from Hong Kong, Singapore and Jakarta to play against the three Bangkok teams-"The FourWinds Diamonds", "The JW Marriott Griffins" and "The KLM Swans". Teams were drawn and placed into two groups. Each team played two matches with the winners of each draw meeting for the final.

The Singapore Bucks proved unstoppable in the end winning an exciting final against our very own Bangkok Marriott team. Whilst in third place another Bangkok team - Four Winds Diamonds. Excellent organisation by Nicole, Kesa and Angela ensured a smoothly run tournament, plenty of laughter and excellent netball.

Perhaps the highlight of the day to watch was the demonstration game by the Bangkok under 21's National team against a handpicked squad from other competing teams called the All stars. Some excellent netball played even though some of the players had already played 3 games and a victory for the Al lstars. Well done everyone who played it was an exciting match (only four goals in it at the end) and I'm sure it was the cheering (and not singing along to Tom Jones later in the evening which resulted in many hoarse voices the next day !)

An afternoon of shopping, sleeping or relaxing recharged batteries for the evening session. Rivas at the Sheraton was the venue. Once again great organisation by Angela provided us with a fantastic meal and needless to say plenty of wine!! The Hong Kong girls provided the entertainment with a series of dares for team captains which included a solo dancing performance backed by the in house band, a very unusual tasting cocktail mixed by Kesa and a mad girl having an argument with an invisible lover at the bar ! Some of the die hards continued to party until the early hours at various venues - amongst them Radio City (Jenny - Tom Jones really thought his luck was in with that kiss on the cheek !)

On behalf of the Bangkok Netball League I would like to thank everyone who was involved in organising this tournament, the visiting teams and players from Bangkok who made this event such a success. Also a special thank-you to the Hong Kong team for our souvenirs and the entertainment. Feedback from this event has been very positive and I believe plans are already underway for the next one, venue to be arranged ! Lets hope its soon.