30 I OXFORD UNIVERSITY I SPORTS REVIEW 2010 Boys and Girls team, saw the veterans use their years of experience to continue their dominance of this annual event. Nevertheless, the close ties maintained with our past members must rival those of any university sports club, truly one of the Club's proudest attributes. In Hilary term we contested the Air Pistol Varsity match against Cambridge at our 'home' range in Wantage. Our respective A teams squared off and Oxford won a decisive victory, with OUPC's Imogen Solly besting all competitors with a 539. The OUPC B team enjoyed a similarly successful meet, beating the Cambridge B's (and posting a few scores that would have beaten most of their A team as well). Sadly the Ladies' team, which included several new members with little experience but great natural talent, were not able to ride that talent all the way to a win. The overall win of the Varsity match by OUPC was a great compliment to the hard work put in by all our members and coaches this year and gives the team a strong platform on which to build for the future.OUPC have been active competing in county matches, including the Small Bore Gallery Rifle Competition, and the County Air Pistol Championships, in which OUPC beat all the teams in the county to take home the Thamesian Trophy. Our own Lonnie Swift won the individual overall title (as well as many of the single event titles), followed closely by OUPC's Brian Tang in second place. A successful Cuppers competition held in Trinity term saw top honours go to a team from Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, with second and third going to two teams from Merton. Our annual dinner at St Edmund Hall was a great opportunity for many past and present OUPC members to mix.POLOThe Club has enjoyed an active and successful year in 2009-10, achieving strong results and strengthening the profile of Oxford University Polo. Indicative of the Club's success has been its activity in the usually quiet winter months. With a strong beginners' programme, first-time polo players could attend weekly lessons. By February we had a strong enough base to provide three teams for the winter national tournament (SUPA) and for the first time in years enter a team into the beginners' division of this exciting event. At the top end an open team was entered, narrowly losing out to a strong Edinburgh side. The highlight of the winter season was a team trip from three of the Club players to represent OUPC in a match against the Indian Army in Delhi. Although faced by a strong side and immense heat the English visitors were able to put up a fight. Such a trip is a sign of the strong future which the Club is aspiring towards, enabling its members to have polo experiences which they would never have thought possible.The summer season kicked off well, with regular lessons now based at our local Kirtlington Park Polo Club. In the build-up to the Varsity Match several friendlies were organised. Once more the talent of the Club, and the success of the year's training, was demonstrated through the appearance of a strong Second Team which has not been achieved in previous years. Although the Second Team was stronger than in previous years the First Team, under Thomas Mayou, led by example, both at the high-profile Polo in the Park as well as the Varsity Match. The Varsity Match returned to the world-famous Smith's Lawn at Guards Polo Club. The scale of such an event and the excitement for the players is unrivalled. The team seized victory in the final moments, the score ending as 5-4 with Oxford's very own Thomas Meacher winning the coveted MVP award.POOL AND SNOOKERThis year has been one of transition for the Club. With OU's first ever significant participation in competitive university snooker we have now rightly added the 'S' to our club name, thanks greatly to the determination of Snooker Captain Richard Walters. The heart and soul of the Club though is undoubtedly English-style 8-ball pool, supported by a thriving college scene of league and Cuppers, with hundreds of students participating.At the University team level we have a strong reputation at BUCS, with Oxford 1 seeded sixth in the Team Championship this year. As another first this year we took 3 teams to the tournament in Great Yarmouth, held in February. In the BUCS singles there were two shining stars for Oxford in fresher Ben Charlston and newbie James Cholerton. The Varsity Pool Match, contested over 2 days and 90 frames, was played in Oxford this year bringing the Varsity Champions title back to Oxford for the first time since 2005. In the Varsity Singles tournament Lei Xiao of Oxford, after slipping to a 0-4 deficit, emerged victorious a 6-5 winner over Cambridge's Luke Gleave, a fitting end to Lei's seventh and last Varsity Match.The Club also played Local League and was defeated 2 - 5 in the Annual Town vs. Gown match. With strong players having left before this year we have done well to build and strengthen the Club, and found many talented finalists to fill the Squad. Next year will perhaps be even more of a challenge, with more than half the regular players moving on; we will once again rely on finding the talent that exists in the college set-up, from freshers to finalists, and encouraging it at the University level. We hope to also build snooker even further by competing in the local Oxford snooker league for the first time, and hopefully establishing a regular Varsity Snooker Match.

I 31 www.sport.ox.ac.ukPOWERLIFTINGIt has been an excellent year for OUPLC, beginning with the selection of a national-calibre squad at the beginning of Michaelmas term and then, six weeks later, going on to win the British University Powerlifting Championships held in Bournemouth. This was our second consecutive year in first place, and the top three lifters this year were Karl Seddon, Scott Mclaughlan and Robert Pearce. We had two members, Adam Sandel and Robin Mirshahi, place very highly at the WDFPF World Championships. In Hilary term we had several external competitions and the majority of our lifters qualified for Nationals. Towards the end of Hilary term we competed against Cambridge in the Varsity Match. We were victorious, with all our eight lifters in the top ten and our top three lifters being the top three overall. Cambridge fielded eleven competitors.Several Club records were broken this year, and the Club continues to set a high standard not only on a University level but also on a national one. Due to OUPLC's organisation and professionalism, we have been asked to host the next British University Championships this upcoming Michaelmas 2010.REAL TENNISThis year was a particularly successful one for OUTC; the Men's First Team clinched a very exciting Varsity Match at Lord's, for the first time in a number of years, against a very strong Cambridge Team. The seconds also triumphed on home turf at Oxford with a couple of strong players hoping to come through to the firsts next year, with the loss of three of our four players likely. A number of individual results were also accomplished this year, with our Number One Will Fortune breaking in the world's top 50 and our Number Two, Horatio Cary, winning Most Valuable Player in National League Division 4.The Women's Team faced another very strong side at Cambridge and sadly succumbed, but it was a worthy battle and with all the Women's Team leaving this year we will be looking to fill our ranks with some new young stars next year. On a happier note the Women's Seconds recorded a wonderful victory, to show our strength in depth which will hopefully come into play next year.RIDINGThis year Oxford University Riding Club was pleased to welcome a large number of hopefuls to team trials at the Blewbury Centre at the start of the term. Twelve successful riders were selected and assigned to one of the three teams entered in the BUCS equestrian league. Each team participated in three or four league matches, comprising a dressage test and show-jumping round on unfamiliar horses, and there were some excellent individual performances. The First Team rode well against Oxford Brookes in a close contest but were unfortunately beaten by the Royal Agricultural College; the Second Team finished second in their league and the Third Team, despite some initial setbacks, put up a good performance against several second teams in their league. The First Team also competed in the Varsity Match in May, at Moreton Morrell. We were very pleased to win the dressage phase of the competition, but despite jumping clear in the first show-jumping round, we narrowly lost out in the second round, resulting in a narrow defeat. However, this was much closer than last year and with many of the team riders still around in 2011 we rate our chances for next year!RIFLEThis year has been a difficult year for the Rifle Club, which has seen itself haunted by range problems yet again. Nevertheless, once we were able to begin shooting at our new small-bore range, at the Rover Social Club, our activities were able to begin in earnest. It was good to recruit a number of new members, many of whom had never shot before.Our first match of the year saw us hosting one leg of the English University's league, with Oxford scoring 1090, Imperial scoring 1100 and Southampton scoring 1128. A few weeks later we hosted the Heslop (small-bore Varsity) and Bentata (Ladies only match), being beaten by Cambridge in both despite a valiant effort. Easter saw the traditional Easter Bisley training camp. There was the usual round of training on the full-bore ranges, with several members being introduced to full-bore shooting. There was also a full range of social activities, including dinner with the London University Rifle Club, and a well enjoyed afternoon at the go-kart track. Finally, the summer saw OURC, as ever, attending the Imperial meeting at Bisley. There were some strong performances, especially from those for whom this was their first Imperial. Unfortunately, Oxford were beaten by a strong Cambridge side in both Varsity Matches.RUGBY FIVES2009-10 has been a very successful year for the Oxford Rugby Fives Club, with a number