Bowls: Forsyth in the big time

Nelson bowler Ali Forsyth had one of his biggest career wins when he claimed the scalp of world singles champion Steve Glasson at the Asia Pacific Championships in Melbourne yesterday. Forsyth, 25, crushed the Australian, 12-7, 19-1 in his second-round match.

It was the first time Forsyth had played the big Australian and he was delighted with the win. "I'm very happy with the result. It's actually quite astounding," he said. However, he said it was early days in the competition and he would be keeping things in perspective.

Forsyth won the champion of champion singles title last year but is holding the singles berth in a selected New Zealand team for the first time.

His Nelson United team-mate, Jo Edwards, won her second-round singles match today, beating Norfolk Island 12-3 8-8. There was joy, too, for the New Zealand men's triples combination of Gary Lawson, Justin Goodwin and Richard Girvan, who beat Brunei 21-2, 9-9 in their quarter-final match to set up a semifinal clash with Canada.

The Philippines caused a major shock by beating Australia in another quarter-final and will play the United States in the semifinals. The triples finals will be played tonight.

Earlier today Lawson's side beat Malaysia in their final pool match.

Lawson said his trio were having a quiet night ahead of the Canada fixture tomorrow. "We're going to have to regroup tomorrow morning and think about how Canada played the first time we beat them in sectional play," he said. "We need to play as well as we can, and if we can do that we'll win."

The tournament is over for the women's triples team. Jan Khan, Marina Khan and Jessie Ann Law lost both their matches today, to Canada and then Malaysia.

- NZPA