KEY POINTS:
New Zealand have a chance of winning three more golds at the Asia Pacific championships in Christchurch today.
Singles whiz Ali Forsyth, the women's pair of Val Smith and Mary Campbell and the men's four of Richard Girvan, Dwayne Cameron, Doug Wilson and Shannon McIlroy all qualified yesterday for their respective finals.
Forsyth provided yesterday's highlight by coming from 4-12 down in his semifinal to beat Australian Nathan Rice 21-19 in an epic contest.
Rice, who won gold in the pairs on Tuesday, was unbeaten at the championships and had triumphed over Forsyth in their two previous meetings.
Forsyth produced some magical bowls to claim one of his most prestigious scalps.
His most valuable match-saving delivery came on the penultimate end when Rice, ahead 19-17, held two shots close to the jack.
A draw wasn't an option, so Forsyth let fly with a drive which slammed the jack into the ditch and brought him three shots.
"I thought I was a fraction wide," Forsyth said. "But my bowl turned in late to collect the jack. I couldn't have wished for a better result."
Forsyth retained his nerve on the final end after Rice had driven his two surviving bowls off the green. With his last delivery, Forsyth coolly drew inside Rice's closest bowl to secure a significant victory.
Things don't get any easier for him, however, because in the final he will play defending champion, Canadian Ryan Bester, who eliminated Forsyth in the semifinals of last year's event. Bester disposed of Malaysia's Safuan Said 21-8 in less than an hour in the other semifinal.
The women's pairs final puts Smith and Karen Murphy into conflict once again, Smith having beaten her Australian rival in the singles final 48 hours after taking a 0-21 drubbing in qualifying play. Smith and Campbell were always in front against their Samoan semifinal opponents but dropping a four on the 15th end allowed Samoa to close to 12-15.
The New Zealand pair promptly reclaimed the four on the next end and cruised home 20-13.
Girvan's four needed to register two victories today to reach the final and compensate for the huge disappointment of losing to Singapore in the men's triples quarter-finals.
They achieved their goal with a crushing 23-10 win over Fiji in the quarter-finals before grinding out a 13-11 victory over Hong Kong China in a game that lasted four hours. Hong Kong China led 9-6 after 11 ends but the New Zealanders dug in to eke out a thrilling victory.
The only disappointment for New Zealand yesterday came in the women's triples, where Jan Khan, Marina Khan and Manu Timoti were comprehensively outplayed by Australia's Ceri Ann Davies, Julie Keegan and Kelsey Cottrell, who won 22-6.
New Zealand and Australia will each feature in three finals today, with Canada, in the men's singles, and Malaysia, in the women's triples, making up the numbers.
