Atlantic thrills and spills in sunny Cardiff

Five entertaining sessions jam-packed with adrenalin-charged bowls was the consensus of opinion from opening day of the Atlantic Championships in Wales.

And there was no shortage of good and hard luck stories from the action at the four host greens around Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan – Barry Athletic, Dinas Powys, Penarth Windsor and championship headquarters Penylan.

No doubt the biggest news flash came from Dinas Powys where the combination of Scotland stars Alex Marshall and Paul Foster – arguably the greatest-ever, with a record in world championships and Commonwealth Games that is second-to-none – were defeated by Kenya’s Benson Wambugu and Joseph Kitosi 20-15 in Round 2.

In the previous round another surprise result saw youthful Welsh champions Ross Owen and Dan Salmon lower their colours to Malta’s Mark Malogorski and Brendan Aquilina by a single shot; while at the same time, at the historic Barry Athletic green, Turkey’s Ozkan Akar and Vuslat Arac shocked the establishment when they carded a 16-12 victory over the highly-fancied England duo of Steve Mitchinson and Jamie Walker.

These results and others would have warmed the hearts of those intrepid souls who have devoted so much time and energy over the years into developing the affectionately tagged ‘minnow’ nations when Kenya, Botswana, Isle of Man and Malta occupied the top four places in men’s pairs Section 2 overnight.

The England trio of Ian Lesley, David Bolt and Sam Tolchard sounded out a strong warning in the men’s triples at Penylan, completing their day’s schedule unbeaten and 49-shots up in a dominant demonstration of team bowls.

2019 Atlantic Bowls Championships, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Day 1:

Women’s singles:

Sec.1: Rd.1: RSA (Colleen Piketh) bt SUI (Larissa Rubin) 21-3, GUE (Lucy Beere) bt BRA (Fernanda Spelta) 21-5, ISR (Ruti Gilor) bt ESP (Maggie Holmes) 21-8, JER (Chloe Greechan) bt ARG (Marta Gesualto) 21-8, ZIM (Caryn Sinclair) bt NAM (Bianca Lewis) 21-16 Rd.2: IRE (Courtney Wright) bt NAM 21-12, BRA bt SUI 21-13, GUE bt ESP 21-3, ZIM bt JER 21-10, ISR bt RSA 21-16. Rd.3: ISR bt BRA 21-10, RSA bt GUE 21-18, IRE bt JER 21-14, NAM bt ARG 21-5, SUI bt ESP 21-16.

Current standings: ISRAEL 9 points +29 shots, GUE 6 +31, RSA 6 +16, IRE 6 +16, ZIM 6 +16, NAM 3 +2, JER 3 -5, BRA 3 -19, SUI 3 -21, ARG 0 -29, ESP 0 -36.

Sec.2: Rd.1: WAL (Sara Marie Nicholls) bt MLT (Sharon Callus) 21-0, ENG (Natalie Chestney) bt BOT (Marea Modutlwa) 21-12, SCO (Caroline Brown) bt FRA (Cindy Royet) 21-6, CYP (Hazel Bagshaw) bt TUR (Eylem Carcabuk) w/o 21-6. Rd.2: ENG bt IOM (Pam Makin) 21-7, NED (Saskia Schaft) bt TUR w/o 21-6, BOT bt MLT 21-1, SCO bt CYP 21-10. Rd.3: FRA bt TUR 21-4, ENG bt WAL 21-20, SCO bt NED 21-7, MLT bt IOM 21-18.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 9 points +40 shots, ENG 9 +24, WAL 3 +20, BOT 3 +11, CYP 3 +4, FRA 3 +2, NED 3 +1, MLT 3 -38, IOM 0 -17, TUR 0 -47.

Women’s fours:

Sec.1: Rd.1: SCO (Hannah Smith, Stacey McDougall, Megan Grantham, Claire Johnston) bt MLT (Rita Hedges, Rose Rixon, Rebecca Rixon, Connie Rixon) 23-3, NED (Elly Dolieslager, Betty Schiltman, Ineke Nagtegaal, Norma Duin) bt TUR (Havva Konanc, Ceyda Arac, Filiz Adiguzel, Rahsan Akar) 19-8, NAM (Anjuleen Viljoen, Elzaan De Vries, Amanda Steenkamp, Diana Viljoen) bt GUE (Rose Ogier, Jackie Nicolle, Lyn Small, Gwen De La Mare) 19-12, KEN (Grace Njuguna, Susan Wambugu, Fridah Mwangi, Sophy Kihuyu) drew RSA (Jacqui Van Rensburg, Nici Neal, Esmé Kruger, Anneke Snyman) 11-11. Rd.2: KEN bt IOM (Marcia Pearson, Karen Slack, Bernice McGreal, Janice Pilling) 19-13, SCO bt NED 20-9, RSA bt GUE 34-4, MLT bt TUR 16-9.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 6 points +31 shots, RSA 4 +30, KEN 4 +6, NAM 3 +7, NED 3 Sq, MLT 3 -13, IOM 0 -6, TUR 0 -18, GUE 0 -37.

Sec.2: Rd.1: JER (Ethel Southern, Lorraine Bowman, Jean Holmes, Fiona Archibald) bt ESP (Debbie Colquhoun, Lynne Eldon, Gillian Atkinson, Jenny Thompson) 22-3, WAL (Melanie Thomas, Bethan Russ, Ysie White, Anwen Butten) bt SUI (Noelle Iseli, Caroline Lehmann, Simone Kunz, Simone Iseli) 19-9, ENG (Jamie-Lea Winch, Rebecca Wigfield, Lorraine Kuhler, Sian Honnor) bt ZIM (Allyson Dale, Melanie James, Heather Singleton, Kerry Craven) 16-9, ISR (Shira Eshel, Irit Grencel, Edna Bomberg, Tami Kamzel) bt ARG (Sara Jaimez, Celia Nunez, Ana Ramos, Gabriela Villamarin) 13-7. Rd.2: IRE (Gemma McClean, Ashleigh Rainey, Shauna O’Neill, Sarah-Jane Curran) bt ESP 31-8, ISR bt SUI 24-5, WAL bt ARG 28-9, ENG bt JER 26-11

Current standings: WALES 6 points +29 shots, ISR 6 +25, ENG 6 +22, IRE 3 +23, JER 3 +4, ZIM 0 -7, ARG 0 -25, SUI 0 -29, ESP 0 -42.

Men’s pairs:

Sec.1: Rd.1: RSA (Wayne Rittmuller, Pierre Breitenbach) bt BRA (Joao Correa, Peter Gordon) 28-8, IRE (Aaron Tennant, Mark Wilson) bt ARG (Rodolfo Muller, Jose Riveros) 21-8, NAM (John Fouche, Cabous Olivier) bt ZIM (Elliah Mbulawa, Denis Streak) 18-14, ESP (Tom Rogers, Graham Cathcart) bt JAM (Martin Edwards, Mervyn Edwards) 17-13, TUR (Vuslat Arac, Ozkan Akar) bt ENG (Steve Mitchinson, Jamie Walker) 16-12. Rd.2: ENG bt SUI (Thomas Schneiter, Beat Matti) 28-13, ZIM bt GUE (Matt Solway, Matt Le Ber) 18-13, IRE bt TUR 17-12, NAM bt ARG 17-12, ESP bt BRA 20-10. Rd.3: IRE bt SUI 25-13, NAM bt TUR 19-18, ENG bt JAM 26-8, ZIM bt RSA 20-12.

Current standings: IRELAND 9 points +30 shots, NAM 9 +10, ENG 6 +29, ESP 6 +14, ZIM 6 +9, RSA 3 +12, GUE 3 +4, TUR 3 -2, JAM 0 -22, ARG 0 -27, SUI 0 -27, BRA 0 -30.

Sec.2: Rd.1: KEN (Benson Wambugu, Joseph Kitosi) bt CYP (Neal O’Neill, Martin McMillan) 32-8, JER (Derek Boswell, Ross Davis) bt CZE (Jan Letal, Karel Sturm) 28-6, SCO (Paul Foster, Alex Marshall) bt FRA (Guillaume Hertzog, Virgile Machado) 27-6, IOM (Clive McGreal, Mark McGreal) bt NED (Jan Dolieslager, Frank De Vries) 26-18, BOT (John Gaborutwe, Remmy Kebaptse) bt ISR (Daniel Alonim, Zvika Hadar) 19-16, MLT (Mark Malogorski, Brendan Aquilina) bt WAL (Ross Owen, Dan Salmon) 19-18. Rd.2: MLT bt FRA 20-10, BOT bt CZE 29-10, KEN bt SCO 20-15, ISR bt NED 18-16, IOM bt JER 16-12, WAL bt CYP 36-6.

Current standings: KENYA 6 points +29 shots, BOT 6 +22, IOM 6 +12, MLT 6 +11, WAL 3 +29, JER 3 +18, SCO 3 +16, ISR 3 -1, NED 0 -10, FRA 0 -31, CZE 0 -41, CYP 0 -54.

Men’s triples:

Sec.1: Rd.1: IRE (Adam McKeown, Neil Mulholland, Andrew Kyle) bt CZE (Jindrich Svaton, Vitezslav Svaton, Libor Svaton) 36-6, SCO (Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver, Darren Burnett) bt FRA (Maxime Faure, David Ducote, Amaury Dumont) 24-6, BRA (Gilberto Gelbrand, Heitor Correa, Keith Rowland) bt ESP (John Pooley, Brian Manser, Derek Eldon) 23-8, ZIM (Myles Hopper, Mike Eaton, Clive Robertson) bt MLT (Peter Tonna, Wes Hedges, Len Callus) 19-15, CYP (Bob Manson, Colin Hall, Scott Ferguson) bt KEN (David Salmon, Charles Wambugu, Andrew Jones) 18-15. Rd.2: NAM (Piet Appolis, Johan Jacobs, Will Esterhuizen) bt ZIM 21-8, BRA bt CZE 21-7, SCO bt MLT 19-12, IRE bt CYP 23-9, KEN bt ESP 19-13.

Current standings: IRELAND 6 points +44 shots, BRA 6 +29, SCO 6 +25, NAM 3 +13, KEN 3 +3, ZIM 3 -9, CYP 3 -11, MLT 0 -11, FRA 0 -18, ESP 0 -21, CZE 0 -44.

Sec.2: Rd.1: GUE (Terry Brokenshire, Mick Ogier, Chris Dyer) bt ISR (Selwyn Hare, Allan Saitowitz, Danny Slodownik) 16-13, RSA (Prince Neluonde, Jason Evans, Billy Radloff) bt TUR (Huseyin Tukenmez, Ozgur Ozturk, Serkan Akar) 32-10, ENG (Ian Lesley, David Bolt, Sam Tolchard) bt SUI (Sven Rubin, Thomas Walti, Ulrich Hausler) 37-2, JER (Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham, Malcolm De Sousa) bt ARG (Ricardo Rubinat, Jorge Barreto, Raul Pollet) 20-15. Rd.2: WAL (Ben Thomas, Stephen Harris, Jon Tomlinson) bt TUR 28-3, BOT (Ajit Naik, Baven Balendra, Binesh Desai) bt SUI 21-14, JER drew RSA 13-13, ENG bt ISR 23-9.

Current standings: ENGLAND 6 points +49 shots, RSA 4 +22, JER 4 +5, WAL 3 +25, BOT 3 +7, GUE 3 +3, ARG 0 -5, ISR 0 -17, SUI 0 -42, TUR 0 -47.

Photo: England’s Ian Lesley, David Bolt and Sam Tolchard were irrepressible in the men’s triples at Penylan on Day 1.