Cool start for hot week ahead in Cardiff

Is there something in the scriptures about it raining on the eighth day? Surely there is. After seven brilliant late spring South Wales days, today was a reality check for the Atlantic Bowls Championships.

Over the past seven days the greatest show on turf – 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 – unearthed gold, silver and bronze medalists in women’s singles and fours, along with men’s pairs and triples.

Today saw the reverse program of men’s singles and fours, along with women’s pairs and triples, stepping out under threatening skies and occasional drizzle.

But it failed to dampen the enthusiasm and performance of a stellar field seeking personal success and precious metal this week, and, most paramount, national qualification for next year’s world championships in Australia.

Four years ago these championships were presented in Cyprus at the picturesque Athena Beach Resort, where England’s Jamie Walker beat Darren Burnett from Scotland in the men’s singles final. In the men’s fours the previously unheralded Jersey team of Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham, Cyril Renouf and Gus Hodgetts outpointed Scotland’s mighty quartet, Stewart Anderson, Neil Speirs, Paul Foster and Alex Marshall.

The women’s pairs saw Colleen Piketh and Nici Neal from South Africa snare the title from Fran Davis and Linda Ryan representing Cyprus, while Ireland’s Erin Smith, Bernie O’Neill and Sandra Bailie struck gold against the Scottish trio of Lorraine Malloy, Stacey McDougall and Lorna Smith.

Some things stay the same. Walker and Burnett are competing in Cardiff and could meet in a blockbuster singles play-off; Davis and Ruderham are in the Jersey four, likewise Scots Foster and Marshall are also here, each with two new partners.

In the women’s pairs Piketh and Neal have started their title defence in fine style and are undefeated, although there will be all new faces on the podium when the women’s triples reaches its conclusion.

In the men’s fours Scotland’s Foster and Marshall have banked two wins from two starts, and the Jersey boys have one apiece, while in the blue ribbon singles Burnett and Walker are unbeaten and a showdown between the two heavyweight champs would be on the wish list of every bowls tragic.

A special mention to the Zambian women’s triples team, Gertrude Siama, Sophie Matipa and Eddah Mpezeni, who arrived in Wales yesterday after a marathon bureaucratic and emotional rollercoaster ride to get here and compete in the championships. In their only match today they prevailed by two shots against Botswana’s Marea Modutlwa, Chikale Robert and Tibone Fox at the Penarth Windsor club.

Yesterday we provided a photo of the host nation’s women’s fours team (Melanie Thomas, Anwen Butten, Ysie White and Bethan Russ) following their fine victory. Today we proudly present the other winners; women’s singles gold medalist Ruti Gilor from Israel; new men’s pairs titleholders Steve Mitchinson and Jamie Walker from England; plus South Africa’s Billy Radloff, Prince Neluonde and Jason Evans, the men’s triples gold medalists.

See below for results of today’s play.

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2019 Atlantic Bowls Championships, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Day 8:

Men’s singles:

Sec.1: Rd.1: RSA (Pierre Breitenbach) bt JAM (Mervyn Edwards) 21-12, KEN (Joseph Kitosi) bt ARG (Jose Riveros) 21-8, ENG (Jamie Walker) bt NED (Frank De Vries) 21-10, JER (Ross Davis) bt FRA (Amaury Dumont) 21-11, IOM (Mark McGreal) bt WAL (Dan Salmon) 21-17. Rd.2: BOT (Remmy Kebapetse) bt GUE (Matt Le Ber) 21-19, WAL bt FRA 21-2, JER bt JAM 21-11, RSA bt KEN 21-5, NED bt ARG 21-16. Rd.3: ENG bt BOT 21-14, IOM bt GUE 21-19, WAL bt Jam 21-11, JER bt KEN 21-18, RSA bt NED 21-14.

Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 9 points +32 shots, JER 9 +23, WAL 6 +25, ENG 6 +18, IOM 6 +6, BOT 3 -5, KEN 3 -6, NED 3 -13, GUE 0 -4, ARG 0 -18, JAM 0 -29, FRA 0 -29.

Sec.2: Rd.1: ISR (Zvika Hadar) bt ZIM (Myles Hopper) 21-14, MLT (Brendan Aquilina) bt CYP (Bob Manson) 21-3, SCO (Darren Burnett) bt BRA (Joao Correa) 21-13, IRE (Adam McKeown) bt HUN (Zoltan Pavelka) 21-12, ESP (Tom Rogers) bt SUI (Thomas Walti) 21-8, NAM (Cabous Olivier) bt TUR (Ozkan Akar) 21-18. Rd.2: IRE bt TUR 21-19, SUI bt HUN 21-12, MLT bt BRA 21-13, NAM bt ESP 21-11, ISR bt CYP 21-13, SCO bt ZIM 21-5.

Current standings: MALTA 6 points +26 shots, SCO 6 +24, ISR 6 +15, NAM 6 +13, IRE 6 +11, ESP 3 +3, SUI 3 -4, TUR 0 -5, BRA 0 -16, HUN 0 -18, ZIM 0 -23, CYP 0 -26.

Men’s fours:

Sec.1: Rd.1: NAM (John Fouche, Piet Appolis, Johan Jacobs, Will Esterhuizen) bt ISR (Daniel Alonim, Selwyn Hare, Danny Slodovnik, Allan Saitowitz) 19-9, ZIM (Mike Eaton, Clive Robertson, Tom Craven, Denis Streak) bt MLT (Peter Tonna, Wes Hedges, Mark Malogorski, Len Callus) 18-10, TUR (Huseyin Tukenmez, Ozgur Ozturk, Serkan Akar, Vuslat Arac) bt GUE (Terry Brokenshire, Matt Solway, Mick Ogier, Chris Dyer) 13-9, JER (Derek Boswell, Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham, Malcolm De Sousa) bt ARG (Ricardo Rubinat, Rodolfo Muller, Jorge Barreto, Raul Pollet) 16-11. Rd.2: WAL (Ben Thomas, Ross Owen, Stephen Harris, Jon Tomlinson) bt TUR 21-6, NAM bt JER 15-14, ZIM bt GUE 16-14, ISR bt ARG 14-12.

Current standings: NAMIBIA 6 points +11 shots, ZIM 6 +10, WAL 3 +15, JER 3 +4, ISR 3 -8, TUR 3 -11, GUE 0 -6, ARG 0 -7, MLT 0 -8.

Sec.2: Rd.1: BOT (Ajitkumar Naik, Baven Balendra, John Gaborutwe, Binesh Desai) bt ENG (Steve Mitchinson, Ian Lesley, David Bolt, Sam Tolchard) 17-11, IRE (Aaron Tennant, Neil Mulholland, Andrew Kyle, Mark Wilson) bt BRA (Francis Vila, Heitor Correa, Keith Rowland, Peter Gordon) 23-13, SCO (Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver, Paul Foster, Alex Marshall) bt SUI (Sven Rubin, Ulrich Hausler, Beat Matti, Thomas Schneiter) 23-6, KEN (David Salmon, Benson Wambugu, Charles Wambugu, Andrew Jones) bt ESP (John Pooley, Brian Manser, Derek Eldon, Graham Cathcart) 19-15. Rd.2: RSA (Wayne Rittmuller, Prince Neluonde, Jason Evans, Billy Radloff) bt ESP 20-6, ENG bt SUI 29-5, SCO bt BOT 16-10, IRE bt KEN 23-5.

Current standings: IRELAND 6 points +28 shots, SCO 6 +23, ENG 3 +18, RSA 3 +14, BOT 3 Sq, KEN 3 -14, BRA 0 -10, ESP 0 -18, SUI 0 -41.

Women’s pairs:

Sec.1: Rd.1: GUE (Rose Ogier, Lucy Beere) bt ISR (Ruti Gilor, Tami Kamzel) 22-10, RSA (Nici Neal, Colleen Piketh) bt MLT (Rebecca Rixon, Connie Rixon) 14-13, JER (Chloe Greechan, Fiona Archibald) bt SUI (Noelle Iseli, Simone Iseli) 20-9, ARG (Marta Gesualto, Ana Ramos) bt ESP (Debbie Colquhoun, Maggie Holmes) 18-12. Rd.2: WAL (Sara Marie Nicholls, Ysie White) bt GUE 20-11, ESP bt MLT 14-10, RSA bt ARG 25-10, JER bt ISR 19-14.

Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 6 points +16 shots, JER 6 +16, WAL 3 +9, GUE 3 +3, ESP 3 -2, ARG 3 -9, MLT 0 -5, SUI 0 -11, ISR 0 -17.

Sec.2: Rd.1: ENG (Rebecca Wigfield, Natalie Chestney) bt FRA (Audrey Vyt, Emma Baggio) 20-15, IRE (Gemma McClean, Sarah-Jane Curran) drew ZIM (Caryn Sinclair, Melanie James) 17-17, NED (Ineke Nagtegaal, Norma Duin) bt IOM (Karen Slack, Pam Makin) 19-10, NAM (Anjuleen Viljoen, Amanda Steenkamp) bt TUR (Eylem Carcabuk, Ceyda Arac) 35-5. Rd.2: IOM bt SCO (Stacey McDougall, Megan Grantham) 20-13, ZIM bt FRA 18-13, IRE bt NAM 17-16, ENG bt TUR 39-4.

Current standings: ENGLAND 6 points +40 shots, ZIM 4 +5, IRE 4 +1, NAM 3 +29, NED 3 +9, IOM 3 -2, SCO 0 -7, FRA 0 -10, TUR 0 -65.

Women’s triples:

Sec.1: Rd.1: IRE (Ashleigh Rainey, Courtney Wright, Shauna O’Neill) bt MLT (Rita Hedges, Rose Rixon, Sharon Callus) 28-3, RSA (Jacqui Van Rensburg, Esmé Kruger, Anneke Snyman) bt BOT (Marea Modutlwa, Chikale Robert, Tibone Fox) 22-8, WAL (Melanie Thomas, Bethan Russ, Anwen Butten) bt ARG (Sara Jaimez, Celia Jaimez, Gabriela Vallamarin) 23-10, TUR (Havva Konanc, Filiz Adiguzel, Rahsan Akar) bt ESP (Lynne Eldon, Gillian Atkinson, Jenny Thompson) 15-13, GUE (Jackie Nicolle, Lyn Small, Gwen De La Mare) bt CYP (Maria Staniland, Yvonne Veitch, Hazel Bagshaw) 24-3. Rd.2: ZAM (Gertrude Siama, Sophie Matipa, Eddah Mpezeni) bt BOT 19-17, MLT bt ARG 13-10, IRE bt TUR 18-9, RSA bt GUE 24-13, WAL bt ESP 22-14.

Current standings: IRELAND 6 points +34 shots, RSA 6 +25, WAL 6 +21, GUE 3 +9, ZAM 3 +2, TUR 3 -7, MLT 3 -22, ESP 0 -10, BOT 0 -16, ARG 0 -16, CYP 0 -20.

Sec.2: Rd.1: ENG (Jamie-Lea Winch, Lorraine Kuhler, Sian Honnor) bt FRA (Amandine France, Cindy Royet, Jennifer Gomez) 27-9, SCO (Hannah Smith, Claire Johnston, Caroline Brown) bt SUI (Larissa Rubin, Caroline Lehmann, Simone Kunz) 40-5, NED (Elly Dolieslager, Betty Schiltman, Saskia Schaft) bt NAM (Elzaan De Vries, Bianca Lewis, Diana Viljoen) 20-18, KEN (Susan Wambugu, Grace Njuguna, Ester Ndungu) bt ZIM (Allyson Dale, Heather Singleton, Kerry Craven) 21-8, IOM (Marcia Pearson, Bernice McGreal, Janice Pilling) bt JER (Ethel Southern, Lorraine Bowman, Jean Holmes) 21-14. Rd.2: SUI bt NED 20-19, ENG bt KEN 10, SCO bt IOM 15-7, NAM bt JER 20-11, ZIM bt FRA 21-10.

Current standings: SCOTLAND 6 points +43 shots, ENG 6 +39, NAM 3 +7, NED 3 +1, IOM 3 -1, ZIM 3 -2, KEN 3 -8, SUI 3 -34, JER 0 -16, FRA 0 -29.