Bowls: Women's fours whittling down to knockout stage

Leading contenders, including Patsy Jorgensen's team, picked their way through the qualifiers to reach the knockout stages of the women's fours at the national championships in Christchurch yesterday.

Defending champion Jorgensen has been joined by Sharon Sims, Marlene Castle and Jan Khan and a further 12 combinations in the sudden-death rounds.

Those start tomorrow.

Thirty-six teams managed three wins each, but still need one more to qualify.

A further 29 teams have two wins.

Despite rain in Christchurch yesterday, both qualifying rounds were completed.

Barbara McGregor of United (Nelson) and Lyn Bevin of Anderson's Bay need two more wins each after losses on Monday.

They scored two victories each yesterday.

Among the 22 men's teams to have qualified already, Mike Kernaghan's Otago combination and Gary Lawson's strong composite Wellington-Canterbury outfit lead the charge.

Australian-based singles semifinalist Richard Girvan, Canterbury's Alvin Gardiner and Waikato's Kevin Robinson are also through.

Teams with three wins require one more to progress.

Former champion Petar Sain's Carlton team is just one victory away from qualifying, as is Ross Haresnape (Thames) and Jamie Hill (Doug Wilson's team) - both members of the winning team last year.

Terry Scott, of Dunedin, and Kelvin Scott, of Christchurch, were both beaten by Lawson's team yesterday but should still qualify.

- NZPA