Bowls: Lawson will have to shine in pursuit of fifth gold star

New Zealand bowls great Gary Lawson faces stiff competition at next month's national indoor bowls championships in Timaru where he will be aiming to gain a gold star by winning his fifth indoor title.

Lawson, holder of 10 national lawn bowls titles, will have to overcome all of the reigning champions who will turn out for the June 6-13 tournament.

Chris Matthews (Canterbury) will defend the singles, Tim Veale and Teri Anderson (Manawatu) the pairs, Shaun Burnand, Sue Burnand and Angela Boyd (Ashburton) the triples, while Nigel Warnes, Fred Persico and Hayden Warnes this time combine with Nelson's Chris Moffat to defend the fours.

Lawson won his first indoor title in 1988, the fours, and then won the singles in 1989 and 1993, and the pairs in 1995.

Paul Psaila, from Auckland, and Grant l'Ami, Taranaki, are two gold star holders in the field. l'Ami who won his gold star in 2002 has been overseas since 2004. Psaila won his gold star in 2005. No player has won six titles.

Seven players, including Lawson, are sitting on four titles. They are Richard Griffiths (Canterbury), Kevin Boothby (Thames Valley), Rod Fleming (Hawke's Bay), Mike Phipps (Taranaki), John Zittersteijn (North Taranaki) and Nigel Warnes (Nelson).

Griffiths is the most likely to achieve the milestone with four titles in five years.

- NZPA