Highs and lows from wonderful Wellington

With two of five qualifying days completed, the cream is slowly rising to the top in the World Singles Champion of Champions at Wellington’s fabulous Naenae Bowling Club.

Defending champion Lee Schraner from Australia is unbeaten in his four starts and has reached the magical ‘ton’ on +101 shots in Section 2, while English star Sam Tolchard still heads Section 1 – undefeated on +73 – following two impressive wins on the Naenae turf today.

Australia’s Carla Krizanic, the recently retired Commonwealth and world champion, has taken the lead in the women’s competition, being one of three unbeaten contenders, the others being Mel Thomas from Wales and America’s Anne Nunes.

One of the most puzzling aspects of the women’s championship had been the inability of English star Stef Branfield to conquer the Naenae conditions. One of the sport’s very best singles players Stef, who won three English titles last year and is the reigning European champion, has won just one of her four starts, but only a fool would write her off as a chance of reaching the final six at completion of qualifying.

Spectators witnessed a heart-warming moment in this morning’s Round 4 of Section 2 when Sweden’s Olle Bäckgren, won his very first match on the world stage, beating Malaysia’s Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple, widely considered to be his country’s best singles exponent, and a genuine threat at these championships.

Other representatives from the so-called ‘lesser’ nations to record wins over the past two days have been Hungary’s Zoltan Pavelko, Thomas Waelti from Switzerland and Samoa’s Iva Lealaiauloto.

2022 World Singles Championships, Wellington, New Zealand

Day 2:

Men:

Section 1:

Rd. 4: Iva Lealaiauloto (SAM) bt Anthony Loh (SIN) 8-7 5-10 6-0, Kelvin Scott (NZL) bt Billy Nicholls (CYP) 16-5 10-4, Niksa Benguric (RSA) bt Matt Mercer (ZAM) 8-7 12-6, Kushal Pillay (FIJ) bt Trevor Gow (NFI) 8-5 8-4, Sam Tolchard (ENG) bt Steve Williams (GUE) 11-4 13-3.

Rd.5: Tolchard bt Benguric 14-2 9-2, Gordon White (SCO) bt Lealaiauloto 11-7 16-4, Cecil Alexander (FLK) bt Edwin Nyoka (BOT) 9-5 10-2, Gow bt Nicholls 19-4 12-4.

Rd.6: Gary McCloy (IRE) bt Alexander 9-9 12-2, White bt Mercer 20-1 9-8, Nyoka bt Williams 7-8 10-6 5-3, Scott bt Pillay 7-4 5-8 5-1.

Progressive: Tolchard 12 points +73 shots, Scott 12 +47, White 9 +35, Loh 9 +18.8, Gow 9 +28, McCloy 6 +26.5, Benguric 6 +19, Pillay 6 -9, Lealaiauloto 6 -20, Alexander 3 -19, Mercer 3 -9.5, Nyoka 3 -24, Williams 3 -42, Nicholls 3 -68.

Section 2:

Rd.4: Lee Schraner (AUS) bt Michael Leong (CAN) 14-0 10-5, Thomas Waelti (SUI) bt Axel Krahenbuhl (NAM) 10-7 8-6, Olle Bäckgren (SWE) bt Izzat Dzulkeple (MAS) 7-11 8-5 3-0, Kevin James (WAL) bt Warren Cheung (HKC) 7-6 11-5.

Rd.5: Amnon Amar (ISR) bt Ross Davis (JER) 4-11 9-6 4-3, James bt Royden Aperau (CKI) 8-4 7-7, Leong bt Zoltan Pavelka (HUN) 13-4 14-1, Krahenbuhl bt Bäckgren 12-5 9-7, Charlie Herbert (USA) bt Fred Tafatu (NIU) 7-5 11-3.

Rd.6: Pavelka bt Waelti 8-7 7-6, Schraner bt Tafatu 14-3 18-2, Dzulkeple bt Amar 9-5 14-1, Herbert bt Davis 5-6 9-8 3-1.

Progressive: Schraner 12 points +101 shots, James 12 +19, Aperau 9 +16.5, Herbert 9 +3.8, Dzulkeple 6 +28, Cheung 6 +2, Bäckgren 6 -3, Waelti 6 -22, Krahenbuhl 6 -1, Pavelka 6 -23, Davis 3 +5.5, Tafatu 3 -36, Leong 3 -13, Amar 3 -46.

Women:

Rd.4: Carla Krizanic (AUS) bt Elly Dolieslager (NED) 6-10 15-2 6-0, Anne Nunes (USA) bt Nooroa Mataio (CKI) 4-14 8-6 4-0, Ain Tarmizi (MAS) bt Jennifer McClure (IRE) 12-7 3-9 5-0, Marea Modutlwa (BOT) bt Diana Viljoen (NAM) 8-5 7-10 2-1.

Rd.5: Mataio bt Petal Jones (NFI) 2-12 9-4 5-0, Mel Thomas (WAL) bt Viljoen 9-8 14-2, Stef Branfield (ENG) bt Tarmizi 5-10 8-6 4-3, Tayla Bruce (NZL) bt Esmé Haley (RSA) 13-2 9-10 2-1.

Rd.6: Jones bt Branfield 10-4 7-6, Haley bt Daphne Arthur-Almond (FLK) 12-4 11-5, McClure bt Bruce 8-7 8-4, Dolieslager bt Modutlwa 7-9 9-5 3-2.

Progressive: Krizanic 12 points +43 shots, Thomas 12 +28, Nunes 12 +15.8, Tarmizi 9 +23.5, Bruce 9 +34.3, Jones 6 +18, Haley 6 +1, Mataio 6 +13.5, Modutlwa 6 -20, Dolieslager 6 -36, McClure 3 -5, Arthur-Almond 3 -9.3, Viljoen 3 -14.7, Branfield 3 -40.