City of Light’s high octane bowls

Last time this much hubbub invaded Adelaide’s Dequetteville Terrace was in 1995 when the final Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix was staged in the City of Light and the grand boulevard was dubbed ‘Brabham Straight’.

Infinitely more sedate today as this year’s World Singles Champion of Champions  – with its array of international stars from far and wide – roared into life at the historic Adelaide Bowling Club, situated smack dab in the middle of Rymill Park, the epicentre of rev-head heaven for 10 years when Formula 1 ruled in the normally chaste South Australian capital.

But the locals, whose champion Scott Thulborn won this event at Helensvale in 2016, were thrilled to be the host club when Kylie Whitehead became the first Aboriginal women to compete in a world bowls championship.

The delightful 24-year-old, a physiotherapist in hometown Wodonga, took all before her under a nation’s gaze, winning her opening round match against plucky Zimbabwean Bonnita Van Heerden in straight sets.

Later she added a straight sets win over seasoned tournament pro Diana Viljoen from Namibia to complete her first day on the international stage undefeated and just one shot from the top of Section 1.

Undefeated leaders in the men’s competition are English champion Louis Ridout in Section 1 along with Australia’s Lee Schraner and Stephen Coleman from Ireland in Section 2; while the top women in Section 1 are impressive Norfolk Island youngster Shae Wilson, Whitehead and Hong Kong’s Helen Cheung with Malaysian mum-to-be Nur Fidrah Nor and Debbie White from New Zealand leading Section 2, also undefeated.

Qualifying rounds run continuously until Friday afternoon, with play-offs and semi finals on Saturday, while the world finals are set for Sunday.

2019 World Singles Champion of Champions, Adelaide, South Australia

Day 1:

MEN:

Sec.1: Rd.1: Tony Cheung (HKC) bt Taylor Horn (NZL) 5-10 9-7 4-0, Clive McGreal (IOM) bt Mark O’Hagan (SCO) 8-7 7-8 3-2, Cabous Olivier (NAM) bt Earl Luk (CAN) 14-4 10-4, Avala Savaiinaea (SAM) bt Zoltan Pavelka (HUN) 21-2 9-4, Louis Ridout (ENG) bt Frank De Vries (NED) 10-7 15-1. Rd.2: Ian Kenyon (ESP) bt McGreal 6-5 12-2, Ridout bt Horn 8-7 5-10 3-2, O’Hagan bt Pavelka 13-2 12-3, Luk bt De Vries 9-6 5-8 7-0, Cheung bt Savaiinaea 19-2 12-4. Rd.3: Ahmad Zikry (MAS) bt McGreal 10-5 11-5, O’Hagan bt Cheung 15-3 6-6, Kenyon bt Pavelka 10-4 3-9 5-0, Horn bt Luk 9-8 8-7, Ridout bt Savaiinaea 13-3 15-1.

Current standings: Ridout 9 points +37 shots, O’Hagan 6 +32, Cheung 6 +10, Kenyon 6 +10, Horn 3 +9, Olivier 3 +16, Zikry 3 +11, Savaiinaea 3 -25, Luk 3 -18, McGreal 3 -22, De Vries 0 -17, Pavelka 0 -44.

Sec.2: Rd.1: Lee Schraner (AUS) bt Kwok Fai Law (SIN) 13-4 11-2, Stephen Coleman (IRE) bt Kevin James (WAL) 9-8 8-5, Rajnesh Prasad (FIJ) bt Ozkan Akar (TUR) 10-9 7-6, Wayne Rittmuller (RSA) bt Regent Reid (BOT) 8-4 15-7, Boaz Markus (ISR) bt Haydn Evans (NFI) 1-16 8-6 3-2, Charlie Herbert (USA) bt Todd Priaulx (GUE) 6-5 6-9 4-2. Rd.2: Hirokazi Mori (JPN) bt Reid 10-5 13-3, Markus bt Fai Law 11-4 12-2, James bt Priaulx 10-3 6-6, Coleman bt Evans 11-4 12-3, Schraner bt Rittmuller 6-12 5-4 5-0, Prasad bt Herbert 8-9 7-5 4-1. Rd.3: Coleman bt Fai Law 11-6 5-10 2-1, Rittmuller bt Markus 12-6 7-6, Akar bt Reid 10-7 14-4, Priaulx bt Evans 6-6 11-3, Schraner bt Mori 12-7 9-4, James bt Prasad 6-12 8-6 5-1.

Current standings: Schraner 9 points +23 shots, Coleman 9 +20, Rittmuller 6 +24, Prasad 6 +7, Markus 6 -3, James 6 +1, Priaulx 3 +3, Akar 3 +11, Mori 3 +5, Herbert 3 -3, Evans 0 -11, Fai Law 0 -35, Reid 0 -40.

WOMEN:

Sec.1: Rd.1: Kylie Whitehead (AUS) bt Bonnita Van Heerden (ZIM) 9-5 13-3, Helen Cheung (HKC) bt Janice Pilling (IOM) 13-4 6-8 3-1, Shirley Fitzpatrick-Wong (CAN) bt Tammy Tham (SIN) 12-6 8-7, Shae Wilson (NFI) bt Sophie Tolchard (ENG) 13-2 12-6. Rd.2: Whitehead bt Diana Viljoen (NAM) 10-5 12-2, Pilling bt Boikhutso Mooketsi (BOT) 8-6 17-3, Cheung bt Fitzpatrick-Wong 9-5 12-7, Wilson bt Van Heerden 12-6 12-5.

Current standings: Wilson 6 points +30 shots, Whitehead 6 +29, Cheung 6 +16, Pilling 3 +9, Fitzpatrick-Wong 3 -2, Tham 0 -7, Viljoen 0 -15, Mooketsi 0 -16, Tolchard 0 -17, Van Heerden 0 -27.

Sec.2: Rd.1: Laura Welsh (SCO) bt Sonia Bruce (PHI) 12-6 14-3, Laura Daniels (WAL) bt Cristina Konig (ARG) 16-2 10-5, Debbie White (NZL) bt Esmé Kruger (RSA) 7-5 3-7 3-1, Nur Fidrah Nor (MAS) bt Keiko Kurohara (JPN) 8-4 5-7 5-2. Rd.2: Nur Fidrah Nor bt Sandy Wall (USA) 9-4 15-4, White bt Mary Dyer (ESP) 9-6 5-7 4-0, Kurohara bt Bruce 3-9 7-5 4-0, Kruger bt Konig 19-1 16-1.

Current standings: Nur Fidrah Nor 6 points +18 shots, White 6 -1, Kruger 3 +35, Daniels 3 +19, Welsh 3 +17, Kurohara 3 -6, Dyer 0 -1, Bruce 0 -13, Wall 0 -16, Konig 0 -52.

Photo: Australia’s Kylie Whitehead in action during today’s play in the World Singles Champion of Champions at Adelaide Bowling Club.