One of Northern Tasmanian sport's most respected characters has been honoured with a tennis tournament named in his honour.
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The inaugural Jim Witheford Memorial Challenge was held at Riverside Tennis Club last weekend, attracting 16 mixed doubles pairings from Riverside, Legana, Trevallyn, AIC and Longford.
The challenge pitted teams into four pools - Sheffield, Chesterfield, Stanmore and Reatta - which were named after significant locations in Witheford's life, with the winner of each pool meeting in the semi-finals.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
After all four semi-finalists made it through their pools undefeated, Owen Geale and Roxie Holden edged out Greg Porter and Christine Egan 6-4 in the final to become the first names on the shield.
Witheford died in early 2018 after becoming Riverside's longest-serving president (27 years), its eighth life member and one of four club patrons to have a court named after him.
He was also a Launceston United life member and holds the club record of scoring 10 goals in one game.
Witheford's son Michael, who suggested each of the pool names, visited Riverside on the day of the tournament.
Six of the 24 sets played on the day went to tiebreakers.
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