It is not every day a world champion graces Launceston.
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However, starting from Thursday, the world's best female croquet player will be in action as Canberra's Jamie Gumbrell competes in the President's Eight tournament at St Leonards.
Just 23 years of age, Gumbrell has had a rapid rise in the sport - introduced to it at 15 through her grandparents.
"I was reasonably okay at it ... and at that time they were trying to set up some under-21 development, so I joined in with that and it ended up to only be me," she said.
"Because there's quite a lot of support of people wanting under-21 development, I got a lot more extra training sessions than most people would coming in later."
Biologically born a male, Gumbrell competed at the under-21 national championships as a 17-year-old and several other events on the world stage before beginning to identify as a female when croquet returned from the pandemic.
She won the world championship by defeating former title winner Georgia Gee 7-2 in August.
"During the game I was just 'show nothing' and I was so focused," she said.
"The emotions started when I had one hoop left and I was just trying to hold it together and as soon as I ran it, a few seconds later I was just overwhelmed."
She is one of 16 players taking part in the President's Eight, Australia's biggest tournament, which is being held in Tasmania for the first time.
Croquet Tasmania president Sylvia Wing explained what goes in to running a tournament of its calibre.
"Professional players who travel the world expect everything to be perfect when they arrive, so we endeavour to do that," she said.
"The lawns are in perfect condition, they've never looked better so we are very happy with that."
Organised into two groups of eight - four other groups are playing at the Victorian Croquet Centre - the mixed tournament takes on a round-robin format, with the winner set to be known on Sunday afternoon.
Two Tasmanians, Phil Roach and Graham Keating, are taking part.
Wing said this tournament is the perfect audition for the world championships, which Launceston will host next year.
"These lawns have only been here 13 years," she said.
"We've had a couple of Australian national championships here before but this is the most prestigious one we've had - this is the real top of the game for all of our players.
"There's not a lot of difference between some but as you walk around, you will see the better players have the better shots - they angle their shots to their benefit."
Spectators are encouraged to attend the tournament at St Leonards, while anyone interested in taking up the sport can contact Wing on 0417 541 504.