Bowls: NZ four ambushed by Botswana

Medals are still within reach for New Zealand despite their suffering a setback at the world bowls championships in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday.

While singles player Andrew Curtain continued to excel as he maintained an unbeaten record, the Peter Belliss-skipped four had an unexpected reversal when they lost to unfancied Botswana, 15-20.

That result intensified competition in their section for the two semifinals berths available.

The New Zealand quartet of Paul Girdler, Russell Meyer, Rowan Brassey and Belliss now share the lead in their section with Scotland, Hong KongChina and Canada, all of whom have suffered two defeats.

The New Zealanders have the chance to redeem themselves with victories over Israel and Hong Kong-China today which would earn them a place in the semifinals and a guaranteed medal.

New Zealand opened their account at the championships last week by winning a gold medal in the triples and a bronze in the pairs.

Team manager Peter Kean said yesterday's upset result illustrated the standard of bowls at the championships, where every team were capable of beating any others.

"It was a disappointing result but we just have to accept that," he said. "The Botswana players, who did play very well, later said to beat New Zealand was the highlight of the championships for them."

New Zealand trailed 15-16 with two ends to play and 15-17 entering the last. The contest was over when a New Zealand drive failed, conceding three shots.

Meanwhile, a pep-talk from Kean had the desired affect on Curtain, who chalked up his seventh successive win with a decisive 21-9 result over Jersey to close in on a medal in the singles.

Kean, who is rooming with Curtain, had been delighted with the Canterbury player's progress but concerned about Curtain's habit of putting too much pressure on himself.

"I gave him a bit of a stir-up last night and he came out today and won well," Kean said of Curtain, who is playing just his third international tournament in the singles.

"I just reminded himself that he was a good enough player to beat these guys.

"He sets high standards and on the slow greens overs here it is difficult to get the bowls as close to the jack as you can back at home. He was sort of giving himself a hard time about not getting in close all the time.

"I just told him you only have to get them inside the opposition's bowls."

Curtain, who won a bronze medal at last year's Asia-Pacific championships, still has four section matches to play, among them tough encounters against Steve Glasson, of Australia, and Hong Kong-China's Noel Kennedy.

- NZPA