BOWLS - Cunning plan rolled out as Wightman takes title

With Garry Houlahan
Congratulations to Sue Wightman for her outstanding win in the women's singles at the national championships in Auckland.
She had been in good form throughout the competition, but went into the final against Marina Khan as underdog in view of her opponent's reputation.
She did not let this upset her plan which was to play her own game and play to her strength which was her steady drawing game. The early ends went pretty much shot-for-shot with never more than a couple separating the pair and half way through Khan was up 11-9 but Wightman stuck to her task and steadily drew away for a comfortable win 21-12.
* Northland in form
In addition to Sue Wightman, a number of Northland bowlers have done well - especially the women.
Ann Muir and Jude Ganley made the last eight in the pairs and plenty of other combinations managed to qualify. At the time of writing this piece Northland has two teams in the last eight of the women's fours with Maree Attwood and Pat Warth still alive. Best of bowling to them. Also good to see John Fitzpatrick formerly of Moerewa and now playing out of Papakura still going in the men's fours.
* Weekend matches
No sooner are we over Christmas and New Year and it is time to play the first of the Centre events for 2009. Singles are scheduled for this weekend and draws are:
Men at Kamo men's green: P. Savident, L. Bird, D. Hood, C. Pierce, K. Robinson, R. McCallum, R. Arbon, R. Jones, A. Trimmer, N. Lett, N. Franks, W. Wrack, C. Megschelse, B. Keene.
Men at Onerahi: B. Moore, R. Mayall, D. Reader, S. Prasad, A. Van Haaften, G. Mulligan, W. Yovich, A. Booth, J. Matich, R. Burrows, S. Mitchell, A. Stebben, D. Barnett, P. Freeman.
Men at Whangarei: G. Rope, M. Jones, W. Walker, B. Horscroft, S. Nelson, I. Bowick, C. Shepherd, R. Sowerby, J. Thorburn, P. Wightman, I. Halls, P. Yovich, K. Nash, A. Wintle.
Men at Arapohue: E. Smitton, J. Dunn, J. Hovell, D. Collett, G. Trappitt, B. Hagger, G. Bond, P. Cross, J. P. Van Haaften, C. Jellick, G. Howarth, D. Mitchell.
Women at Kamo women's green: J. Howarth, C. Crawford, J. Cross, D. Martin, L. Mills, W. Sarjeant, M. Timoti, A. Muir, E. Riceman, A. Halls, J. Erceg, D. Strawbridge, C. Downs, B. Pouwhare, B. Penerata, M. Parker.
Women at Whangarei: M. Gurney, D. Fischer, P. Arbon, D. Stewart, G. Norris-Palmer, J. Carson, D. Oliver, A. Bateman, L. Stewart, M. Bristow, A. Bell, A. Manga, N. Jujnovich, J. Mitchell, M. Attwood, P. Murray.
Play starts at 9am and post section play will be at Kamo on Sunday also commencing at 9am.
Don't forget to bring a marker.
* Local knowledge
Bowls Whangarei held an any combination pairs tournament just after New Year and a good field of 18 teams lined up. There were just three teams with four wins at the end of the day and it was evident that local knowledge was very handy as they all came from the host club. After the countback on shots scored the winners were Sam Prasad and Fred Kirk who had a massive 74 shots while second were Garry Houlahan and Dave Holwell with 54 shots and third placing went to Laura and Bruce Hill with 50 shots. A pleasant day enjoyed by all.
* Entries needed now
In addition to the singles there are a number of Centre events coming up so make sure that you get entries in if you are wanting to play. The 1-5 year interclub tournament on Anniversary Monday at Whangarei and Whangarei RSA. Entries to the Centre by January 17 and remember if your club only has a limited number of 1-5 year players you can combine with another club to make up a team. Also closing on the same day are entries for the under-20 mixed singles to be played on Sunday, January 25. The Hilda Quennell tournament for women leads and twos is to be played at Onerahi on January 28 and entries close on January 19. Executive Fours are also set down to be played at Onerahi in February and of course the first of the champion-of-champion events being the pairs is to be played on the weekend of January 31/February 1.
* Bowling stalwart dies
The entire bowling fraternity will have been sorry to learn of the recent passing of Kevin Pivac who was one of the mainstays of the tiny Mamaranui Bowling Club. He did a tremendous amount of work in keeping the club alive and a couple of years ago was a member of the club champion-of-champion triples team which won the Centre title. He had not been in good health for some time, but still battled on. It was a tragedy to lose him at the young age of 59 and I fear for the survival of the club without his tremendous leadership. Rest in peace.
* Thanks Brian
The end of an era for sports broadcasting in Whangarei with the news Brian Johnston has been made redundant. The radio network are said to be updating and improving things and as a result there will be no more local sports news reporting. BJ has been doing the job for nigh on 30 years and has been a great help to sports administrators in many codes. I know that many bowlers tuned in to his reports to keep abreast of local results and these will be sorely missed. Thanks for all your help.