Kiwi combination Jo Edwards and Val Smith suffered a shock loss in the Asia Pacific bowls championships in Christchurch today. The national champions and former world champion pairs combination were beaten by Malaysia and drew with Norfolk Island to be in third place in their section.
The surprise defeat to the front-running Malaysians mean the Kiwis must win their remaining three matches against USA, Brunei and Fiji to remain alive in the tournament.
The Sandra Keith-skipped Kiwi women's triples team, featuring debutants Angela Boyd and Katelyn Inch, fared better and remain unbeaten after two big wins today against China and Malaysia. Tomorrow they have top of the table games against the Philippines and Norfolk Island and two wins will earn them an automatic semi-final spot.
With Paul Girdler skipping the men's fours, the Kiwi team of Shannon Mcllroy, Andrew Kelly and Mike Nagy are also yet to be beaten, defeating India and Singapore today. The New Zealanders are building in confidence and heading towards a semi-final spot with games tomorrow against China and Japan.
Mike Kernaghan, New Zealand's men's singles representative, remains unbeaten with a good win over Brunei today but will be tested tomorrow morning against the Canada's Ryan Bester, a silver medallist at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The 31 year old Canadian is regarded as one of the top international singles players but the unflappable Kernaghan will certainly not be put off by Bester's big driving power game.
