Showdown in South Wales – business end of first week

The first stanza of this year’s Atlantic Bowls Championships in Cardiff has reached the business end with prospects only having tomorrow’s remaining rounds of men’s pairs and triples, along with women’s singles and fours, in which to raise their stakes in the finals race.

And while many in their quest for medals will be seeking a top three placing in their section, others will be content to finish in the best six to qualify their country for next year’s world championships in Australia.

So far these Atlantic Championships have featured 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 headquarters at Penylan.

It is at Penylan on Wednesday and Thursday that the top contenders for honours in each discipline will take their best shot at bowls immortality. Success will come to those who have prepared best and demonstrated stealth under pressure – someone has suggested it could be the most difficult examination paper in sport – that getting through five days of intense competition against the best players from other bowls nations requires heaps of skill and mental toughness, with a smidgen of luck thrown in.

Here’s hoping South Africa’s women’s fours team of Jacqui Van Rensburg, Nici Neal, Esmé Kruger and Anneke Snyman can craft a podium finish on Thursday, after their preparation was disrupted by the most horrific of circumstances.

The tragic death of their popular skipper Elma Davis just days before departure and the outpouring of grief must surely have induced an emotion drain. However, the side has remained calm and focussed – perhaps they are ‘doing it for Elma?’ And 25-year-old Anneke Snyman, who was promoted to skip, has taken to the role with the adroitness of a seasoned veteran and lead her side in a manner that belies her tender years.

The South African quartette are overnight leaders in their section, but face a strong Scotland line-up in the morning to decide the top two heading into Wednesday’s play-offs.

Tomorrow’s final round of Week 1 qualifying offers a host of mouth-watering scenarios in all sections.

Photo: South Africa’s women’s rink: Anneke Snyman, Esmé Kruger, Jacqui Van Rensburg and Nici Neal.

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2019 Atlantic Bowls Championships, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Day 4:

Women’s singles:

Sec.1: Rd.8: ISR (Ruti Gilor) bt IRE (Courtney Wright) 21-19, NAM (Bianca Lewis) bt BRA (Fernanda Spelta) 21-10, GUE (Lucy Beere) bt ZIM (Caryn Sinclair) 21-8, RSA (Colleen Piketh) bt JER (Chloe Greechan) 21-8, SUI (Larissa Rubin) bt ARG (Inis Jaimez) 21-11. Rd.9: ESP (Maggie Holmes) bt BRA 21-8, ZIM bt IRE 21-10, RSA bt ARG 21-10, GUE bt ISR 21-20, SUI bt JER 21-19,

Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 24 points +88 shots, GUE 21 +89, ISR 18 +50, IRE 15 +30, ZIM 15 +28, NAM 12 +5, JER 9 -20, SUI 9 -60, ESP 6 -43, ARG 3 -80, BRA 3 -87.

Sec.2: Rd.8: ENG (Natalie Chestney) bt CYP (Hazel Bagshaw) 21-7, FRA (Cindy Royet) bt MLT (Sharon Callus) 21-14, SCO (Caroline Brown) bt WAL (Sara Marie Nicholls) 21-17, BOT (Marea Modutlwa) bt TUR (Eylem Carcabuk) forfeit 21-13. Rd.9: NED (Saskia Schaft) bt CYP 21-4, BOT bt IOM (Pam Makin) 21-4, SCO bt MLT 21-16, FRA bt WAL 21-8.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 21 points +85, ENG 18 +55, FRA 18 +51, WAL 15 +52, NED 15 +35, BOT 12 +46, MLT 9 -39, CYP 3 -71, IOM 0 -77, TUR 0 -137.

Women’s fours:

Sec.1: Rd.7: NAM (Anjuleen Viljoen, Elzaan De Vries, Amanda Steenkamp, Diana Viljoen) bt KEN (Susan Wambugu, Grace Njuguna, Sophy Kihuyu, Esther Ndungu) 20-8, GUE (Rose Ogier, Jackie Nicolle, Lyn Small, Gwen De La Mare) bt IOM (Marcia Pearson, Karen Slack, Bernice McGreal, Janice Pilling) 17-9, NED (Elly Dolieslager, Betty Schiltman, Ineke Nagtegaal, Norma Duin) bt MLT (Rita Hedges, Rose Rixon, Rebecca Rixon, Connie Rixon) 15-11, SCO (Hannah Smith, Stacey McDougall, Megan Grantham, Claire Johnston) bt TUR (Havva Konanc, Ceyda Arac, Filiz Adiguzel, Rahsan Akar) 19-6. Rd.8: RSA (Jacqui Van Rensburg, Nici Neal, Esmé Kruger, Anneke Snyman) bt MLT 14-12, GUE bt NED 16-7, KEN bt TUR 16-13, NAM bt IOM 28-8,

Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 19 points +94 shots, SCO 18 +58, KEN 16 +11, NAM 12 +18, GUE 12 +8, MLT 9 -12, NED 9 -15, TUR 0 -76, IOM 0 -86.

Sec.2: Rd.7: ZIM (Allyson Dale, Melanie James, Heather Singleton, Kerry Craven) bt ESP (Debbie Colquhoun, Lynne Eldon, Gillian Atkinson, Jenny Thompson) 19-11, ARG (Sara Jaimez, Celia Nunez, Ana Ramos, Gabriela Villamarin) bt SUI (Noelle Iseli, Caroline Lehmann, Simone Kunz, Simone Iseli) 22-8, WAL (Melanie Thomas, Bethan Russ, Ysie White, Anwen Butten) bt ISR (Shira Eshel, Irit Grencel, Edna Bomberg, Tami Kamzel) 23-9, ENG (Jamie-Lea Winch, Rebecca Wigfield, Lorraine Kuhler, Sian Honnor) drew IRE (Ashleigh Rainey, Gemma McClean, Sarah-Jane Curran, Shauna O’Neill) 12-12. Rd.8: ARG bt JER (Ethel Southern, Lorraine Bowman, Jean Holmes, Fiona Archibald) 13-11, ZIM bt ISR 15-13, WAL bt IRE 19-8, ENG bt SUI 26-13.

Current standings: ENGLAND 19 points +79 shots, WAL 18 +67, ZIM 15 +32, ISR 12 +27, JER 12 +17, ARG 9 -35, IRE 4 +8, SUI 3 -89, ESP 0 -106.

Men’s pairs:

Sec.1: Rd.10: BRA (Joao Correa, Peter Gordon) bt ZIM (Elliah Mbulawa, Denis Streak) 25-9, SUI (Thomas Schneiter, Beat Matti) bt ARG (Rodolfo Muller, Jose Riveros) 18-17, RSA (Wayne Rittmuller, Pierre Breitenbach) bt JAM (Martin Edwards, Mervyn Edwards) 19-8, ENG (Steve Mitchinson, Jamie Walker) bt ESP (Tom Rogers, Graham Cathcart) 28-13, GUE (Matt Solway, Matt Le Ber) bt IRE (Aaron Tennant, Mark Wilson) 23-12, Rd.11: ENG bt NAM (John Fouche, Cabous Olivier) 20-17, TUR (Vuslat Arac, Ozkan Akar) drew BRA 13-13, ZIM bt JAM 29-7, ESP bt SUI 28-13, IRE bt RSA 26-13.

Current standings: IRELAND 24 points +92 shots, ENG 21 +67, NAM 21 +65, RSA 21 +50, GUE 21 +45, ZIM 15 +21, ESP 15 -3, TUR 10 -11, BRA 4 -11, ARG 6 -35, SUI 3 -117, JAM 3 -122.

Sec.2: Rd.7: MLT (Mark Malogorski, Brendan Aquilina) bt CYP (Neal O’Neill, Martin McMillan) 27-8, JER (Derek Boswell, Ross Davis) bt BOT (John Gaborutwe, Remmy Kebaptse) 15-11, IOM (Clive McGreal, Mark McGreal) bt CZE (Jan Letal, Karel Sturm) 37-3, WAL (Ross Owen, Dan Salmon) bt FRA (Guillaume Hertzog, Virgile Machado) 20-11, SCO (Paul Foster, Alex Marshall) bt NED (Jan Dolieslager, Frank De Vries) 23-15, KEN (Benson Wambugu, Joseph Kitosi) bt ISR (Daniel Alonim, Zvika Hadar) 30-8. Rd.8: SCO bt IOM 21-10, NED bt FRA 20-7, BOT bt KEN 16-10, ISR bt CYP 24-14, WAL bt JER 20-15, MLT bt CZE 19-11. Rd.9: SCO bt CYP 35-5, MLT drew JER 14-14, WAL bt CZE 30-15, BOT bt NED 19-16, ISR bt IOM 15-12, FRA bt KEN 22-11.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 24 points +116 shots, MLT 22 +67, IOM 18 +67, WAL 18 +55, BOT 18 +36, JER 16 +52, ISR 16 +8, KEN 12 +39, NED 9 -12, FRA 7 -51, CYP 0 -180, CZE 0 -197.

Men’s triples:

Sec.1: Rd.7: SCO (Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver, Darren Burnett) bt CYP (Bob Manson, Colin Hall, Scott Ferguson) 28-12, FRA (Maxime Faure, David Ducote, Amaury Dumont) bt NAM (Piet Appolis, Johan Jacobs, Will Esterhuizen) 19-18, ESP (John Pooley, Brian Manser, Derek Eldon) bt CZE (Jindrich Svaton, Vitezslav Svaton, Libor Svaton) 23-11, MLT (Peter Tonna, Wes Hedges, Len Callus) bt IRE (Adam McKeown, Neil Mulholland, Andrew Kyle) 20-16, KEN (David Salmon, Charles Wambugu, Andrew Jones) drew BRA (Gilberto Gelbrand, Heitor Correa, Keith Rowland) 17-17. Rd.8: ZIM (Myles Hopper, Mike Eaton, Clive Robertson) bt IRE 18-8, CYP bt FRA 25-14, MLT bt CZE 23-5, NAM bt ESP 18-10, SCO bt KEN 37-3. Rd.9: SCO bt ZIM 14-11, IRE bt KEN 33-7, CYP bt CZE 29-5, MLT drew FRA 15-15, BRA bt NAM 16-12.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 24 points +139 shots, IRE 15 +69, ZIM 15 +42, NAM 15 +29, CYP 15 +26, MAL 13 +19, FRA 13 +6, BRA 10 -18, KEN 7 -67, ESP 6 -45, CZE 0 -200.

Sec.2: Rd.7: BOT (Ajit Naik, Baven Balendra, Binesh Desai) bt GUE (Terry Brokenshire, Mick Ogier, Chris Dyer) 27-5, RSA (Prince Neluonde, Jason Evans, Billy Radloff) bt ARG (Ricardo Rubinat, Jorge Barreto, Raul Pollet) 16-13, WAL (Ben Thomas, Stephen Harris, Jon Tomlinson) bt ISR (Selwyn Hare, Allan Saitowitz, Danny Slodownik) 21-15, ENG (Ian Lesley, David Bolt, Sam Tolchard) bt TUR (Huseyin Tukenmez, Ozgur Ozturk, Serkan Akar) 31-11. Rd.8: TUR bt SUI (Sven Rubin, Thomas Walti, Ulrich Hausler) 16-14, ARG bt BOT 19-18, WAL bt GUE 23-11, RSA bt ENG 17-13. Rd.9: JER (Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham, Malcolm De Sousa) bt BOT 32-11, RSA bt WAL 14-13, ENG bt GUE 33-4, ISR bt SUI 29-12.

Current standings: JERSEY 19 points +73 shots, RSA 19 +58, WAL 18 +90, ENG 15 +109, ANG 12 +31, BOT 9 -12, ISR 6 -14, GUE 6 -65, TUR 3 -135, SUI 0 -135.