Young guns back in the mix

Welsh selectors breathed a collective sign of relief tonight with the knowledge that their youthful pairs combination of Ross Owen and Dan Salmon had played themselves back into contention at the Atlantic Championships in Cardiff.

This competition features twenty-five bowling nations from the European, African and South American theatres at four host clubs around the Welsh capital – Barry Athletic, Dinas Powys, Penarth Windsor and championship headquarters Penylan

Owen and Salmon won both starts at Penylan today after a ‘disappointing’ first two days in which they only managed to claim the points in one of their four engagements.

But the young stars had to dig deep in their clash against Kenyan giantkillers Benson Wambugu and Joseph Kitosi this afternoon, crafting a four on the final end when scores were tied at 13 shots apiece. It was Wambugu and Kitosi who rocked the establishment on opening day when they outpointed hot favourites Paul Foster and Alex Marshall from Scotland in Round 2.

Owen, an established international, and Salmon, the reigning Commonwealth Games pairs gold medalist, now face France, Jersey and the Czech Republic tomorrow, before stiff opposition from Israel and Botswana on Tuesday. Good judges are predicting the rejuvenated locals will win at least three of these matches to gain a spot in the section’s top six and Welsh qualification into next year’s world championships – while victory in all five starts could see them in serious medal contention.

Several power teams flexed their muscles today, with the potent England women’s four of Jamie-Lea Winch, Rebecca Wigfield, Lorraine Kuhler and Sian Honnor in world class form, while Scotland’s Foster/Marshall pairs combo assumed its rightful place at the top of their section.

In the blue ribbon women’s singles discipline, Section 1 is set for a Battle Royale as Colleen Piketh from South Africa holds Guernsey’s Lucy Beere, Ruti Gilor from Israel and Ireland’s Courtney Wright at bay, while the corresponding section offers seductive scenarios with Scotland’s Caroline Brown, Sarah Marie Nicholls from Wales and England’s Natalie Chestney on equal point in the run home.

Photo: England’s star studded women’s four Rebecca Wigfield, Sian Honnor, Jamie-Lea Winch and Lorraine Kuhler at Penylan today.

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2019 Atlantic Bowls Championships, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Day 3:

Women’s singles:

Sec.1: Rd.6: GUE (Lucy Beere) bt SUI (Larissa Rubin) 21-4, RSA (Colleen Piketh) bt ESP (Maggie Holmes) 21-9, NAM (Bianca Lewis) bt JER (Chloe Greechan) 21-16, ZIM (Caryn Sinclair) bt BRA (Fernanda Spelta) 21-5, IRE (Courtney Wright) bt ARG (Inis Jaimez) 21-12. Rd.7: ISR (Ruti Gilor) bt SUI 21-6, ESP bt IRE 21-20, GUE bt NAM 21-8, RSA bt BRA 21-6, ZIM bt ARG 21-8.

Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 18 points +64 shots, GUE 15 +75, ISR 15 +49, IRE 15 +43, ZIM 12 +30, JER 9 -5, NAM 9 -6, ESP 3 -56, ARG 3 -59, BRA 3 -63, SUI 3 -72.

Sec.2: Rd.6: FRA (Cindy Royet) bt NED (Saskia Schaft) 21-16, SCO (Caroline Brown) bt TUR (Eylem Carcabuk) 21-0, WAL (Sara Marie Nicholls) bt IOM (Pam Makin) 21-10, MLT (Sharon Callus) bt ENG (Natalie Chestney) 21-17, BOT (Marea Modutlwa) bt CYP (Hazel Bagshaw) 21-7. Rd.7: FRA bt CYP 21-6, WAL bt BOT 21-19, NED bt IOM 21-15, ENG bt TUR 21-2.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 15 points +76 shots, WAL 15 +69, ENG 15 +41, FRA 12 +31, NED 12 +18, MLT 9 -27, BOT 6 +21, CYP 3 -40, IOM 0 -60, TUR 0 -129.

Women’s fours:

Sec.1: Rd.5: RSA (Jacqui Van Rensburg, Nici Neal, Esmé Kruger, Anneke Snyman) bt TUR (Havva Konanc, Ceyda Arac, Filiz Adiguzel, Rahsan Akar) 23-8, GUE (Rose Ogier, Jackie Nicolle, Lyn Small, Gwen De La Mare) bt KEN (Grace Njuguna, Susan Wambugu, Fridah Mwangi, Sophy Kihuyu) 18-5, NED (Elly Dolieslager, Betty Schiltman, Ineke Nagtegaal, Norma Duin) bt IOM (Marcia Pearson, Karen Slack, Bernice McGreal, Janice Pilling) 23-12, SCO (Hannah Smith, Stacey McDougall, Megan Grantham, Claire Johnston) bt NAM (Anjuleen Viljoen, Elzaan De Vries, Amanda Steenkamp, Diana Viljoen) 15-8. Rd.6: MLT (Rita Hedges, Rose Rixon, Rebecca Rixon, Connie Rixon) bt IOM 20-6, KEN bt NED 22-6, SCO bt GUE 14-10, RSA bt NAM 24-4.

Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 16 points +92 shots, SCO 15 +45, KEN 13 +20, MLT 9 -6, GUE 6 -9, NED 6 -10, NAM 6 -14, IOM 0 -58, TUR 0 -60.

Sec.2: Rd.5: ENG (Jamie-Lea Winch, Rebecca Wigfield, Lorraine Kuhler, Sian Honnor) bt ISR (Shira Eshel, Irit Grencel, Edna Bomberg, Tami Kamzel) 17-11, JER (Ethel Southern, Lorraine Bowman, Jean Holmes, Fiona Archibald) bt ZIM (Allyson Dale, Melanie James, Heather Singleton, Kerry Craven) 18-10, IRE (Gemma McClean, Ashleigh Rainey, Shauna O’Neill, Sarah-Jane Curran) bt SUI (Noelle Iseli, Caroline Lehmann, Simone Kunz, Simone Iseli) 20-8, WAL (Melanie Thomas, Bethan Russ, Ysie White, Anwen Butten) bt ESP (Debbie Colquhoun, Lynne Eldon, Gillian Atkinson, Jenny Thompson) 24-10. Rd.6: ISR bt IRE (Ashleigh Rainey, Gemma McClean, Sarah-Jane Curran, Shauna O’Neill) 18-10, ZIM bt ARG (Sara Jaimez, Celia Nunez, Ana Ramos, Gabriela Villamarin) 16-9, WAL bt JER 15-12, ENG bt ESP 27-10.

Current standings: ENGLAND 15 points +66 shots, ISR 12 +43, WAL 12 +42, JER 12 +19, ZIM 9 +22, IRE 6 +19, ARG 3 -51, SUI 3 -62, ESP 0 -98.

Men’s pairs:

Sec.1: Rd.7: ENG (Steve Mitchinson, Jamie Walker) bt IRE (Aaron Tennant, Mark Wilson) 17-16, GUE (Matt Solway, Matt Le Ber) bt RSA (Wayne Rittmuller, Pierre Breitenbach) 16-13, ZIM (Elliah Mbulawa, Denis Streak) bt ARG (Rodolfo Muller, Jose Riveros) 17-13, TUR (Vuslat Arac, Ozkan Akar) bt SUI (Thomas Schneiter, Beat Matti) 19-11, BRA (Joao Correa, Peter Gordon) bt JAM (Martin Edwards, Mervyn Edwards) 24-7. Rd.8: NAM (John Fouche, Cabous Olivier) bt GUE 18-14, IRE bt ESP (Tom Rogers, Graham Cathcart) 23-10, ZIM bt SUI 23-14, ARG bt JAM 18-13, RSA bt ENG 15-14. Rd.9: IRE bt NAM 16-13, RSA t ESP 18-11, GUE bt BRA 17-9, TUR bt ARG 16-14, JAM bt SUI 19-18.

Current standings: IRELAND 21 points +90 shots, NAM 21 +68, RSA 18 +52, GUE 18 +34, ENG 15 +49, ZIM 12 +15, ESP 12 -3, TUR 9 -11, ARG 6 -34, BRA 3 -68, JAM 3 -89, SUI 0 -103.

Sec.2: Rd.5: FRA (Virgile Machado, Guillaume Hertzog) drew ISR (Daniel Alonim, Zvika Hadar) 20-20, MLT (Mark Malogorski, Brendan Aquilina) bt NED (Jan Dolieslager, Frank De Vries) 31-5, WAL (Ross Owen, Dan Salmon) bt IOM (Clive McGreal, Mark McGreal) 12-9, KEN (Benson Wambugu, Joseph Kitosi) bt CZE (Jan Letal, Karel Sturm) 38-9, JER (Derek Boswell, Ross Davis) bt CYP (Neal O’Neill, Martin McMillan) 27-14, SCO (Paul Foster, Alex Marshall) bt BOT (John Gaborutwe, Remmy Kebaptse) 27-11. Rd.6: IOM bt FRA 17-10, WAL bt KEN 17-13, SCO bt MLT 21-14, ISR bt CZE 22-9, JER bt NED 24-7, BOT bt CYP 29-8,

Current standings: SCOTLAND 15 points +67 shots, IOM 15 +47, MLT 15 +40, JER 12 +53, BOT 12 +31, ISR 10 +17, KEN 9 +34, WAL 9 +26, NED 6 -14, FRA 4 –40, CYP 0 -121, 0 -140.

Men’s triples:

Sec.1: Rd.5: SCO (Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver, Darren Burnett) bt CZE (Jindrich Svaton, Vitezslav Svaton, Libor Svaton) 42-6, ZIM (Myles Hopper, Mike Eaton, Clive Robertson) bt ESP (John Pooley, Brian Manser, Derek Eldon) 20-7, NAM (Piet Appolis, Johan Jacobs, Will Esterhuizen) bt KEN (David Salmon, Charles Wambugu, Andrew Jones) 20-8, FRA (Maxime Faure, David Ducote, Amaury Dumont) bt IRE (Adam McKeown, Neil Mulholland, Andrew Kyle) 21-12, MLT (Peter Tonna, Wes Hedges, Len Callus) bt BRA (Gilberto Gelbrand, Heitor Correa, Keith Rowland) 24-15. Rd.6: CYP (Bob Manson, Colin Hall, Scott Ferguson) bt ESP 22-12, IRE bt BRA 28-13, NAM bt MLT 19-12, ZIM bt CZE 35-5, FRA bt KEN 20-7.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 15 points +86 shots, IRE 12 +57, ZIM 12 +35, NAM 12 +26, FRA 9 +16, CYP 9 +7, MLT 3 -3, KEN 6 -22, BRA 6 -22, ESP 3 -49, CZE 0 -146.

Sec.2: Rd.5: JER (Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham, Malcolm De Sousa) bt GUE (Terry Brokenshire, Mick Ogier, Chris Dyer) 25-5, WAL (Ben Thomas, Stephen Harris, Jon Tomlinson) bt SUI (Sven Rubin, Thomas Walti, Ulrich Hausler) 38-7, ARG (Ricardo Rubinat, Jorge Barreto, Raul Pollet) bt ISR (Selwyn Hare, Allan Saitowitz, Danny Slodownik) 20-10, BOT (Ajit Naik, Baven Balendra, Binesh Desai) bt TUR (Huseyin Tukenmez, Ozgur Ozturk, Serkan Akar) 29-5. Rd.6: RSA (Prince Neluonde, Jason Evans, Billy Radloff) bt SUI 33-11, ENG (Ian Lesley, David Bolt, Sam Tolchard) bt BOT 29-7, WAL bt ARG 15-13, JER bt TUR 30-7.

Current standings: JERSEY 16 points +52 shots, WAL 12 +73, RSA 10 +50, ENG 9 +64, ARG 9 +33, GUE 6 -2, ISR 3 -25, SUI 0 -116, TUR 0 -117.