Norma Parkway visits a recent Guernsey Open. (0639471)

THE annual Guernsey Petanque Open has surpassed itself this year in terms of expected entrants.

The number of nations coming to the island to play  in the open next weekend  is lightly down on the number of teams entered – surprisingly the local teams entered showing the biggest drop – but it is more than made up by the fact that there are six teams coming all the way from New Zealand as part of a world trip, and teams from the UK, Wales, Netherlands and France.

‘In the past there have been teams from Italy and Gibraltar who have joined us, but such a large contingent from New Zealand is remarkable,’ said John Cuthbertson.

‘Although we have little knowledge of their ability with the boule, they are assured of a very warm welcome – as are all of our visitors.’

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