Chris Clarke is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 croquet

Croquet

Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...

 player who has been ranked among the world's top players since the late 1980s. Chris has won two World Championships in Association Croquet, in 1995 and again in 2008. 2008 was perhaps Chris's finest year, overtaking previous world champions Robert Fulford

Robert Fulford (croquet player)

Robert Fulford is a leading English croquet player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s.-Life and career:Born in Colchester, England, he started to play croquet at his local school at the age of 15...

 and Reg Bamford to regain the position of world number one player, which he has now held for in excess of 16 months. He also reached the semi-finals of the http://www.wcfcroquet.org/Tournaments/gcwc2008.html WCF Golf Croquet World Championships in March 2008 in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and led the English team to the finals of the http://www.wcfcroquet.org/Tournaments/euro2009.html2009 European team championships

2009 European Team Championships

The first SPAR European Team Championships took place on 20 and 21 June 2009. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008...

.

Clarke now lives in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. On 30 January 2008 he was married to Jenny Clarke (née Williams), who is currently (2011) the highest-ranked female player in the world, and plays for New Zealand. The pair were therefore on opposing sides when Great Britain played New Zealand in the 2010 MacRobertson International Croquet Shield

MacRobertson International Croquet Shield

The MacRobertson International Croquet Shield is the premier croquet teams event in the world. It is currently competed for by Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States...

.

Clarke was chairman of the organizing committee for the 2008 WCF World Association Croquet Championships and won the event 10 days later. Chris is also current President of Canterbury Croquet Association and coach of the New Zealand youth squad.

Start of career

Clarke started playing croquet while a 13 year old student at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School is a co-educational independent school in Blackburn, Lancashire, founded in 1509 as a boys' school. The term "school" is usually used to collectively refer to the following:...

, Blackburn under the coaching of French teacher Andrew Bennet.

Achievements

World Ranking at 1 August 2005: 2

World Ranking at 18 November 2007: 3

World Ranking at 29 July 2008: 1

World Ranking at 29 June 2009: 1

World Croquet Federation

World Croquet Federation

The World Croquet Federation encourages, promotes and develops the recognised versions of the game of croquet internationally at all levels. National croquet associations around the world are members of the WCF, and the WCF sanctions championship croquet tournaments worldwide...

 World Championships:

2008 - http://www.worldcroquet2008.comWinner: Croquet World Championships

• 2005 - 1st Round
• 2002 - quarter finals;
• 2001 - 2nd Round;
• 1995 - Champion
  Champion
  A champion is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition.There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, and even further divisions at one or more of these levels, as in soccer. Their champions...
  
  ;
• 1994 - Finalist;
• 1992 - 1st Round;
• 1991 - semi final,
• 1990 - 1st Round;
• 1989 - 4th Round

1995: Winner Croquet World Championships.

5-times President's Cup winner.

Represented Great Britain in the last 5 MacRobertson shield competitions (captain in 1996).

Chris has won 10 British Open Doubles titles (9 with Robert Fulford

Robert Fulford (croquet player)

Robert Fulford is a leading English croquet player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s.-Life and career:Born in Colchester, England, he started to play croquet at his local school at the age of 15...

).

He has won the British Opens

Croquet Association

The Croquet Association, which was formed as the United All England Croquet Association in 1897 , is the national governing body for the sport of croquet in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle Of Man. Until 1974 the association was responsible for croquet in the whole...

 Singles title in 1997, British Men's Championships in 2005, Sonoma-Cutrer World Croquet Championships in 1997.

2006

• Winner South Island Doubles (with Jenny Williams)
• Runner-up South Island Singles
• Winner New Zealand Open Doubles (with Robert Fulford)
• Winner Australian Open Doubles (with Robert Fulford)
• Winner British Men's Championships
• Winner Australian Open Singles
• Winner New Zealand Golf Croquet Open

2007

• Winner New Zealand Open Singles
• Winner New Zealand Open Doubles (with Jenny Williams)
• Winner South Island Doubles (with JW)
• Winner South Island Singles
• Winner Championship of Surrey
• Winner British Mixed Doubles Championships (with JW)

External links

• Current World Rankings