Bowls: Challenged bowls fail the bias test

By BOB PEARCE

A set of bowls used by Timaru player Leo Leonard in the national championships in Auckland, and challenged by a fours opponent, has failed a bias test carried out by an accredited bowls tester in Australia.

The bowls were challenged by Carlton player Wally Marsic after a fours qualifying game which his team lost to Leonard's side.

The bowls were sent to the Henselite factory in Melbourne where a test showed the whole set were running narrower than the reference bowl used to show the minimum legal bias.

Leonard, a former prominent motor-racing driver, continued at the championship using borrowed bowls. Neither he nor Marsic qualified for the fours, but Leonard has reached the last 16 of the singles where he is due to play defending champion Petar Sain this morning.

Now the test results are known, a second test, by another manufacturer, is being arranged. A subcommittee appointed by the board of Bowls New Zealand will meet tomorrow to examine the incident in detail.

Tournament director Kevin Hickland said everything had been done as quickly as possible in accordance with the laws of the game and the matter was now in the hands of Bowls New Zealand.

Marsic said last night that he was pleased that his doubts about the bowls had been upheld by an independent test.

"I am not a bad loser," he said. "But I thought there was something wrong. Hopefully this will encourage the authorities to check more closely."

Leonard could not be reached for comment.