Diamond shines in singles title win
Upper Hutt Valley’s Ashley Diamond has laid claim to the title of indoor bowls’ best ever singles player after winning the Henselite New Zealand champion of champion singles title in Nelson for the second time.
Diamond, 30, beat 23-year-old Aucklander Alex Reed 11-8 in Saturday’s final at the Warnes Indoor Bowls Stadium in Stoke, having advanced through a tough field of 34 regional winners from around New Zealand.
Diamond’s win capped off a fantastic season in which he won two Australasian medals with the successful Mat Blacks against Australia and a gold medal for winning five national championship titles, including this season’s fours crown.
He also won the South Island pairs title played in Nelson earlier this year.
He last won the Henselite singles title in 2015 and has also won two national singles championships in 2014 and 2016, resulting in him winning a New Zealand singles title each year for the last four years.
Reed has not long come out of the junior ranks, and was a member of the successful Auckland team that won the New Zealand interdistrict final for the Welch Trophy the previous weekend.
The final was close and tense, with Diamond leading 4-3 midway through the contest before dropping four shots after missing with a drive shot to put Reed ahead 7-4. However, Diamond calmly regathered himself and slowly reduced the deficit before taking a 10-8 lead going into the 12th and final end.
Reed played a weighted shot at the head with his last bowl of the game, attempting to chip a Diamond bowl near the jack but missed, leaving Diamond with one shot and the win.
In the semifinals, Diamond beat Manawatu legend Bruce Meyer 11-10 with his last bowl of the game on an extra end, while Reed beat another current New Zealand representative, Tauranga’s Paul Smith 11-7.
Golden Bay-Motueka player Greg Edwards played well to reach the quarterfinals, but lost 11-7 to Smith.
Nelson’s Giovanni Persico played outstanding bowls to win all his four section play games and qualify for post section play.
He then met top Waikato bowler Darryn Bell in the first round, with Bell sneaking home 11-9 on an extra end after they were tied at 9-9.
North Otago’s Gordon Robb played some outstanding bowls to qualify against more fancied opponents, Reed requiring an extra end to beat him 11-10 in the first round of post section.
Non-qualifiers played in the sudden death plate event, and this was won by Sharon Peters from North Harbour who beat Wanganui’s Brendon Kenny 9-4 in the final.