KEY POINTS:
Safuan Said, a 25-year-old Malaysian who has played the game for only eight years, became the toast of New Zealand bowls yesterday when he comfortably beat Australian Aron Sherriff 21-10 to win the world men's singles championship at Christchurch's Burnside club.
The win confirmed that Malaysia is now a world bowls power, a remarkable feat considering the country only took up the game in the early 1990s because Kuala Lumpur was staging the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
But Said's win had significance for the locals too, as it tipped the overall men's teams prize, the Leonard Trophy, to New Zealand. Based on the exploits of Russell Meyer and Gary Lawson, who joined Richard Girvan and Andrew Todd, to win the fours title on Saturday, NZ, thanks to Said, slipped past Australia by one point.
It was the first time New Zealand have won the Leonard Trophy, after some frustratingly narrow misses at past world championships, notably at Henderson in 1988.
Said's triumph provided a fitting climax to the championships, which from a local viewpoint peaked on Saturday with Lawson and Meyer, helped by Girvan and Todd, taking their second gold medals at the tournament. Val Smith, also took a second gold, partnering Jo Edwards to the women's pairs title.
Both of the New Zealand wins were achieved with surprising ease. The Lawson-skipped four beat Mark Casey's Australians 20-10 after 17 ends and Smith and Edwards thrashed England's Ellen Falkner and Wendy King 28-8 in 16 ends.
The golds, coming on top of the successes of Lawson, Meyer and Smith in the first week, made Saturday one of the greatest days in New Zealand bowls history, perhaps even better than the two golds in the men's pairs and triples at Henderson 20 years ago.
But even though New Zealand's major wins were already in the bag, the young Malaysian ensured that the final day packed a sweet punch for Kiwi spectators.
In the singles final Said gave an immaculate display and, after conceding three shots on the first two ends, totally outplayed Sherriff, who failed to find his weight on the quick green.
Said, however, was comfortable with the pace even though he comes from a country where the greens run at about nine to 12 seconds. "I like the greens here and the faster the better," he said.
In his brief career Said has already been to New Zealand three times and among previous successes were a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the world under 25 title in 2005 when he beat New Zealand's Ali Forsyth.
Another sublime performance came yesterday morning when South Africa's ebullient Lorna Trigwell dominated the women's triples final, skipping Sylvia Burns and Loraine Victor to a 15-11 win over Australia's Julie Keegan, Kelsey Cottrell and Claire Duke.
It was a happy farewell for Trigwell from South African bowls for she is about to move to Scotland. The gold was her first in world championships, but added to the two she has won at Commonwealth Games. Without her, South Africa would not have won yesterday. On several ends Australia were holding a bundle of shots only for Trigwell, usually with weighted shots, to either reduce the count or convert it to her favour.
The loss, however, did not stop Australia winning the Taylor Trophy as the best women's overall team. Despite Smith and Edwards winning the pairs on Saturday, and Smith's singles triumph, Australia had wrapped this up ahead of New Zealand even before yesterday's final.
* Sharon Sims, three-times a world champion for New Zealand, has confirmed that the Christchurch tournament was her last at international level.
