Big guns march on in qualifying
There were some anxious moments for some of the contenders, but in the final wash up the guns negotiated qualifying in the women’s pairs and men’s singles at the New Zealand bowls championships in Auckland yesterday.
Those who will still need a win in the last round were the champions of two seasons ago in the women’s pairs, Lisa Prideaux and Val Smith.
Smith suffered a second loss yesterday morning – following one on Tuesday – going down 18-16 to Kirsty Hill. Hill is the sister of men’s pairs winner, Jamie.
Women’s singles champion Nicole Toomey, playing with Tannith Potgieter, after only one win on Tuesday, posted two more which meant she needed another in the last round to get through.
Despite losses during the day, Angela and Mandy Boyd, plus Linda Ralph and Reen Stratford, qualified with a game to spare.
Ashleigh Jeffcoat and Debbie White advanced unscathed
After a loss on Tuesday, Tayla Bruce and Clare Hendra sneaked past Jacqueline Broderson and Karen
Hema by just one point.
In the men’s singles, defending champion Andrew Kelly opened with two wins. He certainly didn’t get things all his own way in the opening round, prevailing 21-18 over Teo Turua.
Life was more relaxing after that, with Kelly beating the 1992 runner-up, Brett O’Riley, 21-9.
Michael Kernaghan, Petar Sain and Gary Lawson – all winners of the singles on more than one occasion – won both games in the morning.
But Taylor Horn, the champion in 2019, fell 21-17 in round two to Dennis Duncan.
Shannon McIlroy and Michael Galloway both won three-straight. It was Galloway who ended the hopes of the 2017 winner Dean Elgar in the third game. Elgar had suffered an earlier defeat to Karl Kelsall.