Bowls: Aucklanders take national title

Aucklanders Petar Sain and Wally Marsic yesterday won the men's national pairs title at the Hutt club in Wellington.

The experienced duo from the Carlton club snuffed out any chance of Canterbury's 1997 champions Gary Lawson and Andrew Curtain repeating the come-from-behind escape acts that saw them into this year's final, closing out the game at 17-8 with an end still left to play.

Sain's battle up front with Curtain was decisive. The Cantabrian had not enjoyed the best of form throughout the competition.

Lawson never scored more than a double, and was forced to kill on four or five occasions as the Auckland pair kept up good pressure with accurate draw play.

After tight early exchanges, Sain and Marsic scored three consecutive twos to move from a close 10-6 after 11 to a comfortable 16-6 after 14 of the 18 ends, and the trademark Lawson fightback was never allowed to materialise.

For Sain it was a fourth national title to go with his singles in 1991 and 2000, and a fours win as skip in 1999.

It was Marsic's second crown, following a fours victory in 1992.

In the singles final, Nelson fishmonger Ali Forsyth cut Lower Hutt butcher Phil Powell to pieces, winning 21-6.

It was Forsyth's first national title, in a performance that will almost certainly see him force his way into the New Zealand under-30 squad to be named this month.

Forsyth, 23, said the result was all the more special after six of his United clubmates had travelled from Nelson to watch the final.

Forsyth surged to a 7-0 lead before dropping a shot, and then extended his advantage to 15-1.

A brief comeback saw Powell fight back to 5-15, but Forsyth already had one hand on the trophy.

"Halfway through the game I thought I had to knuckle down. I had a big lead, but you don't want to give anything away, not when you're playing for a New Zealand title," Forsyth said.

One thing he will give away is his natural hair colour, after vowing to dye his hair blue if he made the final.

A 15-year veteran of indoor bowls, Forsyth was runner-up in the national champion-of-champions singles for the past two years, but a semifinal finish in the pairs was his previous best in the outdoor event.

He seemed unflappable during the final, but admitted to a few nerves in the morning.

"Actually, I spent about three or four hours driving around Wellington catching a few sights and trying not to think about the final too much. It seems to have worked."

Powell had been the fairytale story of the championships after beating former international Gary Lawson in the semifinals to reach his first national final.

"I just didn't get going. It's a dream. I did not worry about whether I won. It was just magic feeling being out there."

- NZPA