Vietnamese ‘dress-up’ part of the fun

Trinh On and John Cuttance compete in the petanque at the Masters Games on Friday. PHOTO: LINDA...
Trinh On and John Cuttance compete in the petanque at the Masters Games on Friday. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON
John Cuttance and Trinh On have had a busy week.

They spent the first part of the Masters Games run off their feet at the curling, and took a moment to relax at the petanque in Caversham.

Cuttance, of Dunedin, has been organising the curling at the games since 2018, and has been delighted at the jump in numbers in the sport this year.

"We made an extra one-day tournament because our initial tournament, just two days ... we filled up with 24 teams," Cuttance said.

"Then we had another one-day competition of eight teams who played."

On, originally from Vietnam, played in a curling team called Saigon, and dressed up in yellow and red — the colours of Vietnam’s flag — to join her partner Cuttance for the petanque.

"We decided we would have to have some dress-up," Cuttance said.

"We’ve got plenty of Vietnamese-type gear, so we decided that we would wear our star shirts."

Cuttance has played petanque since about 2013, when he heard Taieri was opening a club — he is now president.

"I was always interested in the idea of playing petanque, because I’m not very good at sport, and a new club started up at Taieri.

"I was originally a boy from the Taieri," Cuttance said.

They both enjoyed playing petanque at the masters — and meeting new people across the sport.

"Masters is good.

"I know most of the people, although we’ve got some new people here trying it out for the first time."