Bowls: Youngsters showing the way

It was a good day for New Zealand's young bowlers as qualifying continued at the national championships in Christchurch yesterday.

On the third and busiest day of the event, men's singles and women's pairs completed section play.

More than 1000 games of men's singles were staged between 520 competitors, 187 of them winning at least three times to progress to the knockout stages on Friday.

A swag of under-30 players with international experience qualified.

Justin Goodwin, Sean Robertson, Jamie Hill and Glen McDonald all won three from three. Defending champion Ali Forsyth, 23, from Nelson lost one, but is still safely through.

Joining them were under-18 and schools players Shannon McIlroy, of Gisborne (a New Zealand international), Matt Gallop, of Blenheim, Chris Le Lievre, of Auckland, and Burnside members Luke Rhind and Raniera Tini.

The senior players weighed in, too, with previous singles winners Gary Lawson, Mike Kernaghan, Petar Sain, Ken Walker and three Scotts - Kelvin, of Canterbury, and Dunedin's Jim and Terry - all moving through with only two defeats between them.



The oldest past champion, Ivan Kostanich, showed he is still a force.

The 1977 winner celebrates his 83rd birthday tomorrow, but the superfit Helensville veteran was good enough to win three straight games to make the knockout stage.

Meanwhile, 202 teams of women's pairs became 81 as they played out day two of their qualifying rounds.

Only a few big names were toppled in the early stages.

Star international combinations Jo Edwards with Val Smith, Jan and Marina Khan, Marlene Castle with Lisa Dickson, and Sharon Sims with Mary Campbell all qualified with four straight wins.

But not all the leading contenders had such a good day.

International pairing Wendy Jensen and Jessie Ann Law were knocked out when they lost their first game yesterday.

They needed to go through the day unbeaten to qualify.

The defending champions, Auckland mother and daughter Norma Stewart and Janis Scott, also needed a perfect record. They won two from two before completing the great escape with a final-round 15-11 win.

But former international Patsy Jorgensen, now of Tauranga, and Waipukurau's Judy Stevenson could not quite perform the same feat, winning twice but losing 15-12 in the final round to miss out on the knockout stages.

Today will see 81 women playing singles and 180 men's pairs in sudden-death action.

The men will be reduced to a final 32, the women playing down to find the quarter-finalists.

- NZPA