New Zealand bowlers are in line for medals going into post-section play in week one of the World Bowls Championships currently being held on the Gold Coast.
Women’s Para pairs team of Teri Blackbourn and Julie O’Connell finished with four wins to top their section on debut and move directly through to the semi-finals, where they will play Thailand tomorrow. Thus, they have guaranteed themselves a medal with only the colour to be decided.
The Women’s Fours team of Katelyn Inch, Val Smith, Selina Goddard and Leeane Poulson have been in scintillating form so far, and finished with five out of five wins to top the section and move through to quarterfinals tomorrow where they will play South Africa
Veteran Blackjack Val Smith will be looking to add to her six World Championship medals (of which two are Gold) and Katleyn Inch will be looking to supplement her Bronze Medal from the 2016 World Championships; Selina Goddard and Leeane Poulson haven’t yet tasted success at a World Championships but will be looking to remedy that.
The Women’s Singles player, Tayla Bruce finished with an unblemished record to top her section in to move through to quarterfinals tomorrow.
She has the chance to add a World Championship medal to her ever-increasing international resume, which currently includes two Commonwealth Games bronze medals, and a Gold Medal at least years World Champion of Champions Singles event.
The Men’s Pairs team of Andrew Kelly/Tony Grantham Men’s Pairs were involved in a titanic tussle for second place in their section, dropping a game to Thailand early on, and then staging a comeback to draw a game against Canada on day two. Day three has seen an unblemished day of three wins for the New Zealand pairing and with the top of the table teams all taking points off each other, that has been enough to see them qualify for a quarter finals berth against Ireland tomorrow.
Tony won a bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships, and Andrew has yet to add a World Championship medal to his glittering international cabinet, so the pairs event presents a wonderful opportunity to increase their respective tallies.
Bowls New Zealand performance coach, Emily Belton said ‘The players have held their own and played well in the conditions and they have plenty more left in the tank, which is cool to see’.
Several of the kiwi contingent were unlucky to not progress further in the event.
The Men’s Triples team of Sheldon Bagrie-Howley, Lance Pascoe and Chris LeLievre, the Vision Impaired Mixed Pairs team of Kerrin Wheeler/ Colin Wheeler (Director) and Jayne Parsons/Brent Parsons (Director) and the Men’s Para team of Mark Noble and Darron Wolland all missed out on qualifying by fine margins and will be rueing the missed opportunities.
Tomorrow will see the change to sudden death play with both quarterfinals and semifinals being played across the seven disciplines with the successful competitors fighting it out for the gold medal over the weekend.
Attention will then turn to the remaining four disciplines – Men’s Singles, Men’s Fours, Women’s Pairs and Women’s Triples.
They begin section play on Tuesday through to the medal rounds next weekend.
####ENDS####
Bite Sized Information Below:
Results at glance:
Women’s Singles-Tayla Bruce
Won 21-18 Vs Switzerland
Won 21-15 Vs USA
Won 21-15 Vs Malaysia
Win 19-17 Vs China
Win 21-7 Vs Niue
Win 21-11 Vs Japan
Win 21-1 Vs Singapore
Win 21-8 Vs Samoa
Qualified
Women’s Fours-Katelyn Inch, Val Smith, Selina Goddard, Leeane Poulson
Won 21-7 Vs Niue
Won 17-10 Vs Wales
Win 19-9 Vs Japan
Win 16-10 Vs Malta
Win 20-9 Vs Argentina
Qualified
Men’s Pairs-Andrew Kelly, Tony Grantham
Won 32-5 Vs Turkiye
Drew 16-16 Vs Canada
Won 17-9 Vs England
Win by default Vs Kenya
Win 18-14 Vs Netherlands
Loss 12-18 Vs Thailand
Won 28-10 Vs Namibia
Won 23-8 Vs Fiji
Won 23-10 Vs Japan
Men’s Triples- Sheldon Bagrie-Howley, Lance Pascoe, Chris LeLievre
Won 28-11 Vs Papua New Guinea
Loss 15-17 Vs Ireland
Loss 14-21 Vs South Africa
Win 24-7 Vs Botswana
Win 17-11 Vs USA
Win 39-6 Vs Switzerland
Loss 14-16 Vs Hong Kong China
Para Men’s Pairs- Mark Noble (s), Darron Wolland
Loss 15-19 Vs South Africa
Won 19-12 Vs Singapore
Win 20-7 Vs Korea
Loss 9-10 Vs Japan
Loss 17-18 Vs Scotland
DNQ
Para Women’s Pairs- Teri Blackbourn (s), Julie O’Connell
Loss 13-19 Vs Australia
Win 22-10 Vs Scotland
Win 24-6 Vs Thailand
Win 14-11 Vs China
Win 17-13 Vs England
Qualified
Para Mixed Pairs- Kerrin Wheeler (s) and Colin Wheeler (Director), Jayne Parsons and Brent Parsons (Director)
Loss 10-16 Vs England
Loss 5-17 Vs China
Loss 11-21 Vs South Africa
Win 12-8 Vs Scotland
Won 10-9 Vs Australia