KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's women's singles specialist Val Smith yesterday slipped past England's Ellen Falkner in the world championships in Christchurch to be top section qualifier for the quarter-finals today.
But in a sense Smith might have been better off staying the section's runner-up, where she had been for most of the tournament, as she is now pitted in a tough quarter-final clash with Scotland's Kay Moran rather than lesser opponent Canada's Leanne Chinnery.
Smith was philosophical about who her opening opponent would be for the playoffs.
"You can only worry about what you've got to do," she said after confirming her top position with a 21-17 win over Botswana's gallant Lebogang Mascarenhas.
"Kay's a very good player and in April, when we played a test series, it was 2-1 in my favour, but she was tough," Smith said. "By the third game she was showing she was coming to terms with the greens. Leanne has had less experience but her improvement has been very good."
That was shown yesterday when she assured herself of a quarter-final spot by beating Malaysia's Commonwealth Games champion Siti Zalina Ahmad.
Ahmad was not the only fancied women's singles player to be toppled yesterday. Falkner forfeited her position as the likely top qualifier by losing her last match to Fiji's Litia Tikoisuva and that meant, even had Smith lost narrowly, as seemed possible late in the game, Smith would still have been first.
Tikoisuva won 21-15 and the winner of the gold medal at the 2005 Asian-Pacific championship and the runner-up the same year in the Australian Open confirmed that she is another prime contender even if her quarter-final opponent today will be Ahmad.
Also upset in the final matchyesterday was Australia's teenager Kelsey Cottrell. Having thumped legendary Irishwoman Margaret Johnstone, her senior by 47 years, 21-4, Cottrell was beaten by Nor-folk Island's Debbie Wilford. But by then Cottrell and Ahmad were assured of being first and second in their section. Cottrell's quarter-final opponent will be Mascarenhas, who won praise from Smith for her effort. "She played really well," Smith said. "She made me work till the end."
And though the result became academic, especially with Falkner's loss on a nearby rink, Smith remained intent on a win. "The last thing you want to lose is your rhythm."
New Zealand's mens pair, Gary Lawson and Russell Meyer, with a significant win over Ireland, also qualified top of their section and now face South Africans Gerry Baker and Wayne Perry. The men's triple, Richard Girvan, Ali Forsyth and Andrew Todd, and the Jo Edwards-skipped women's four, also made the quarter-finals, though with difficulty.
The triple were upset by Spain but recovered to easily beat Argentina and will meet Scotland in the quarter-final. The four looked as if they had regained confidence with a big win over Fiji, but in the afternoon were edged out by Philippines, who have been surprisingly competitive all tournament.
That loss put New Zealand in third place in their section, behind England and Wales, and against a quarter-final opponent they would have preferred to have avoided in Australia.
