Bowls supremos sing to success
A couple of Hinuera bowlers had the whole plane singing on the way back from winning the National Club Championship Bowls Pairs at Westpac Bowls Stadium in Dunedin.
Bev Corbett and Debbie White were undefeated on the way to winning the Women’s Pairs title.
They celebrated the win on the plane on the way home and this included the entire plane celebrating with them and being entertained with songs from White all the way from Dunedin.
Corbett and White qualified for the event by winning the Waikato Open Pairs early in the season and then went on to win the Region 2 playoffs against Thames Valley, Counties Manakau and Bay of Plenty to qualify for the national finals.
This championship featured some of the country’s top bowlers and the format was two days of round robin play against the other five zones in New Zealand.
In the first round, Corbett and White faced the Wanganui East pair and won 20-11.
In the second round they edged out Ronne Crone and Janet Munns of Gisborne East Coast 20-11.
The final round of day one saw Corbett and White defeat North Harbour’s Lisa Parlane and Anne Dorreen 16-10.
This made for an interesting day two as their first game was against the other unbeaten side United Nelson’s Kirsten Griffin and Colleen Earl.
This game would ultimately decide the winner and was billed as the game of the round. The quality of bowls in this game was exceptional but Hinuera got up by three to win 15-12.
Going into the fifth and
final round Hinuera played the Forbury Park Pair in a must-win game. It was a dominant display of bowls with Corbett and White winning 22-10 and going undefeated in the tournament – handing them the national title.
This was an emotional moment for the pair and the club, with White winning her first national title and Corbett her eighth.
Corbett was awarded her NZ Silver Star at the event. This is awarded for five New Zealand Championship titles – a huge achievement in bowls, especially at national level, the club said.
Corbett said this title was one of her most enjoyable and she hoped she and White could continue their great partnership.
The club will honour Corbett and White accordingly at the start of the new bowls season.
Anyone interested in finding out more about bowls or who wants to give it a go, can contact Hinuera Bowls president Stuart Settle on 07 888 1717.
The new bowling season starts September.
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