The search for Atlantic gold hits Cardiff
Over the next two days Cardiff will again reverberate to the excited strains of an avid bowls community ready to enjoy all the action as the grand finale of a sensational fortnight of international competition reaches its crescendo.
Over the past five days the 2019 Atlantic Championships – featuring 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 Penylan – has gone through the qualifying stanza in men’s singles and fours, along with women’s pairs and triples.
Tomorrow and Thursday will be rate 10 out of 10 on the exhilaration scale when most of the game’s greatest players strut their stuff – tomorrow’s elimination finals are at Barry Athletic and Dinas Powys, then the gold medal play-offs at Penylan on Thursday.
Spectators at Barry Athletic this morning enjoyed a taste of what to expect when two bona fide stars faced off in a flat green version of a street rumble. It was the men’s singles encounter featuring reigning Commonwealth Games pairs gold medalist Dan Salmon from Wales, a winner in Australia last year; up against South Africa’s Pierre Breitenbach, a Commonwealth Games triples gold medalist from Kelvingrove in 2014.
The quality of bowls was fantastic as Salmon demonstrated his enormous potential, showing exactly why he won the world youth singles championship at Broadbeach a couple of years ago. It was a tight no-holds-barred affair, with score level at 11-11 and 16-16 before Breitenbach held the ascendancy at 20-19 and Salmon crafted a match-winning two to claim the points.
Tomorrow at Dinas Powys, Namibia takes on Ireland and Jersey plays South Africa in men’s fours at 9.30am, with winners to play Scotland and Wales respectively at Barry Athletic at 2.30pm.
The big question is: Can anybody lay a glove on Scotland’s Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver, Paul Foster and Alex Marshall, the reigning Commonwealth Games fours gold medalists?
Similarly, South Africa plays Scotland along with Ireland against Guernsey in women’s pairs at Dinas Powys at 9.30am, with the winners heading to Barry Athletic in the afternoon to take on the mighty Wales and England teams in the semi finals at 2.30pm.
Conversely, Barry Athletic will host England against Wales and Netherlands versus Ireland in the morning women’s triples, with winners pitted against South Africa and Scotland respectively at Dinas Powys in the afternoon.
The blue ribbon men’s singles at Barry will see Brendan Aquilina (Malta) v Dan Salmon (Wales) and Adam McKeown (Ireland) v Pierre Brietenbach (South Africa) at 9.30am – the winners playing Jamie Walker (England) and Darren Burnett (Scotland) respectively at Dinas Powys in the afternoon.
Photo: Scotland’s Ronnie Duncan, Paul Foster, Alex Marshall and Derek Oliver, hot favourites to strike gold in the men’s fours.
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2019 Atlantic Bowls Championships, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Day 12:
Men’s singles:
Sec.1: Rd.12: WAL (Dan Salmon) bt RSA (Pierre Breitenbach) 21-20, JER (Ross Davis) bt ARG (Jose Riveros) 21-11, IOM (Mark McGreal) bt JAM (Mervyn Edwards) 21-16, GUE (Matt Le Ber) bt NED (Frank De Vries) 21-14, BOT (Remmy Kebapetse) bt FRA (Amaury Dumont) 21-13. Rd.13: ENG (Jamie Walker) bt KEN (Joseph Kitosi) 21-15, NED bt FRA 21-15, RSA bt GUE 21-18, WAL bt ARG 21-7, BOT bt JAM 21-11.
Final standings: ENGLAND 30 points +81 shots, WAL 27 +67, RSA 27 +63, JER 21 +14, BOT 21 +3, KEN 13 -10, NED 12 -8, IOM 12 -21, ARG 12 -26, FRA 12 -58, GUE 10 +5, JAM 0 -110.
Sec.2: Rd.10: MLT (Brendan Aquilina) bt HUN (Zoltan Pavelka) 21-9, ISR (Zvika Hadar) bt TUR (Ozkan Akar) 21-6, SCO (Darren Burnett) bt ESP (Tom Rogers) 21-10, NAM (Cabous Olivier) bt ZIM (Myles Hopper) 21-11, IRE (Adam McKeown) bt CYP (Bob Manson) 21-7, SUI (Thomas Walti) bt BRA (Joao Correa) 21-16. Rd.11: TUR bt ZIM 21-15, SCO bt IRE 21-14, CYP bt HUN 21-14, ESP bt BRA 21-13, ISR bt SUI 21-8, MLT bt NAM bt NAM 21-12.
Final standings: SCOTLAND 31 points +117 shots, IRE 27 +50, MLT 25 +86, NAM 24 +45, ISR 21 +36, ESP 15 -18, ZIM 15 -28, TUR 12 +9, BRA 9 -40, CYP 9 -59, SUI 9 -70, HUN 0 -128.
Men’s fours:
Sec.1: Rd.9: MLT (Peter Tonna, Wes Hedges, Mark Malogorski, Len Callus) bt ISR (Daniel Alonim, Selwyn Hare, Danny Slodovnik, Allan Saitowitz) 17-16, NAM (John Fouche, Piet Appolis, Johan Jacobs, Will Esterhuizen) bt GUE (Terry Brokenshire, Matt Solway, Mick Ogier, Chris Dyer) 12-9, WAL (Ben Thomas, Ross Owen, Stephen Harris, Jon Tomlinson) bt JER (Derek Boswell, Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham, Malcolm De Sousa) 21-11, TUR (Ahmet Gargabijk, Vuslat Arac, Huseyin Tukenmez, Serkan Akar) bt ARG (Ricardo Rubinat, Rodolfo Muller, Jorge Barreto, Raul Pollet) 16-11.
Final standings: WALES 21 points +74 shots, NAM 18 +41, JER 15 +19, ZIM 15 -6, ISR 9 -10, ARG 9 -16, MAL 9 -17, GUE 6 -16, TUR 6 -69.
Sec.2: Rd.9: SCO (Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver, Paul Foster, Alex Marshall) bt IRE (Aaron Tennant, Neil Mulholland, Andrew Kyle, Mark Wilson) 19-4, RSA (Prince Neluonde, Wayne Rittmuller, Jason Evans, Billy Radloff) bt BRA (Francis Vila, Heitor Correa, Keith Rowland, Peter Gordon) 16-10, BOT (Ajitkumar Naik, Baven Balendra, John Gaborutwe, Binesh Desai) bt ESP (John Pooley, Brian Manser, Derek Eldon, Graham Cathcart) 18-8, SUI (Sven Rubin, Ulrich Hausler, Beat Matti, Thomas Schneiter) bt KEN (David Salmon, Benson Wambugu, Charles Wambugu, Andrew Jones) 18-15.
Final standings: SCOTLAND 24 points +83 shots, RSA 18 +47, IRE 18 +44, ENG 15 +36, BOT 9 +8, KEN 9 -40, ESP 6 -17, SUI 6 -112, BRA 3 -49.
Women’s pairs:
Sec.1: Rd.9: WAL (Sara Marie Nicholls, Ysie White) bt RSA (Nici Neal, Colleen Piketh) 18-9, GUE (Rose Ogier, Lucy Beere) bt MLT (Rebecca Rixon, Connie Rixon) 17-16, ISR (Ruti Gilor, Tami Kamzel)bt ARG (Marta Gesualto, Ana Ramos) 29-11, ESP (Debbie Colquhoun, Maggie Holmes) bt SUI (Noelle Iseli, Simone Iseli) 14-12.
Final standings: WALES 21 points +80 shots, GUE 18 +61, RSA 15 +48, ISR 15 +29, JER 15 +5, MLT 12 +80, ESP 6 -60, ARG 6 -102, SUI 0 -141.
Sec.2: Rd.9: ZIM (Caryn Sinclair, Melanie James) bt NED (Ineke Nagtegaal, Norma Duin) 20-17, NAM (Anjuleen Viljoen, Amanda Steenkamp) drew IOM (Karen Slack, Pam Makin) 16-16, ENG (Rebecca Wigfield, Natalie Chestney) bt SCO (Megan Grantham, Stacey McDougall) 14-12, IRE (Gemma McClean, Sarah-Jane Curran) bt FRA (Emma Baggio, Audrey Vyt) 16-14.
Final standings: ENGLAND 24 points +92 shots, IRE 16 +52, SCO 15 +63, ZIM 13 -1, NED 13 -10, NAM 11 +19, IOM 10 -15, FRA 3 -9, TUR 0 -191.
Women’s triples:
Sec.1: Rd.10: WAL (Melanie Thomas, Bethan Russ, Anwen Butten) bt RSA (Jacqui Van Rensburg, Esmé Kruger, Anneke Snyman) 14-11, GUE (Jackie Nicolle, Lyn Small, Gwen De La Mare) bt ESP (Lynne Eldon, Gillian Atkinson, Jenny Thompson) 15-12, MLT (Rita Hedges, Rose Rixon, Sharon Callus) bt ZAM (Gertrude Siama, Sophie Matipa, Eddah Mpezeni) 18-11, CYP (Maria Staniland, Yvonne Veitch, Hazel Bagshaw) bt TUR (Havva Konanc, Filiz Adiguzel, Rahsan Akar) 17-11, ARG (Sara Jaimez, Celia Jaimez, Gabriela Vallamarin) bt BOT (Marea Modutlwa, Chikale Robert, Tibone Fox) 14-11. Rd.11: RSA bt IRE (Ashleigh Rainey, Courtney Wright Shauna O’Neill) 26-11, WAL bt BOT 28-10, GUE bt TUR 25-13, ARG bt CYP 15-12, ESP bt ZAM 17-13.
Final standings: SCOTLAND 27 points +127 shots, WAL 24 +83, IRE 24 +37, GUE 21 +50, ZAM 12 -3, ARG 12 -38, MLT 12 -59, CYP 12 -63, ESP 9 -20, BOT 6 -20, TUR 6 -62.
Sec.2: Rd.9: SCO (Hannah Smith, Claire Johnston, Caroline Brown) bt ENG (Jamie-Lea Winch, Lorraine Kuhler, Sian Honnor) 18-9, NED (Elly Dolieslager, Betty Schiltman, Saskia Schaft) bt ZIM (Allyson Dale, Heather Singleton, Kerry Craven) 17-13, NAM (Elzaan De Vries, Bianca Lewis, Diana Viljoen) bt SUI (Larissa Rubin, Caroline Lehmann, Simone Kunz) 20-14, JER (Freda Videgrain, Lorraine Bowman, Ethel Southern) bt KEN (Susan Kariuki, Sophy Kihuyu, Ester Ndungu) 18-10, IOM (Marcia Pearson, Bernice McGreal, Janice Pilling) bt FRA (Amandine France, Jennifer Gomez, Cindy Royet) 20-16.
Final standings: SCOTLAND 24 points +119 shots, ENG 21 +83, NED 18 +29, NAM 14 +9, ZIM 13 -8, KEN 12 -23, JER 10 -35, IOM 9 -42, FRA 8 -44, SUI 3 -88.
