Bowls: McLean seals tartan sweep

Iain McLean, above, beat Malaysia's Fairus Jabal.

Scotland reigned supreme at the world singles champion of champions bowls tournament in Christchurch.

Iain McLean beat Malaysia's Fairus Jabal 6-5, 11-7 in yesterday's men's final to give the Scots a clean sweep after Lorna Smith won Saturday's women's final 8-5, 6-4, 6-0 against Saskia Schaft of the Netherlands.

The Kiwi hope in the men's draw, Ali Forsyth, was eliminated in the semifinals by Jabal 11-4, 8-7. In the other semifinal, McLean beat Australian David Holt 9-4, 3-8, 3-2.

The women's final was a match of moments.

When Smith held four close counters on the first end of the second set, Schaft drew the absolute shot; and again three ends later, although this time the Dutch diva hit the head at speed and collected two.

But after the two protagonist found themselves tied at a set apiece, it was Smith's four-shot collect on the first tiebreak end, despite Schaft's best attempts at another heroic save, that was the moment of them all.

Smith is one of the most decorated bowlers of all time and her medal tally at international level is legendary. But this is her first major singles crown. And she did it the hard way - coming through the elimination finals, where she defeated local star Helen King in a tiebreaker, then another sudden-death three-ender against Malaysia's Noor Zafirah Noor in the semifinals, before she encountered Schaft, who had been the standout competitor all week in the main event.

Earlier, Fiji's Litia Tikoisuva gained promotion to the semifinals when she outgunned Tai Jim from the Cook Islands in an elimination final. However, the popular Suva champion was unable to reproduce the same form in her semifinal clash with Schaft, and shared the bronze tier of the medal presentations podium with Noor.