Another day of Atlantic hits in Cardiff
Whereas yesterday saw the men’s pairs event attracting headlines at the Atlantic Bowls Championships in Cardiff after so-called minnows mauled traditional sharks, today it was the hotly contested men’s triples competition that generated the big news.
In what was an entertaining day of international battle on sport’s most-level playing field at four host clubs around the Welsh capital – Barry Athletic, Dinas Powys, Penarth Windsor and championship headquarters Penylan – it was the seemingly invincible English trio of Ian Lesley, David Bolt and Sam Tolchard, who were toppled 18-11 by giant killers Ricardo Rubinat, Jorge Barreto and Raul Pollet from Argentina in Round 4.
Ironically, while the English trio relaxed with a bye in the morning’s third round, the previously unheralded Argentinians inflicted a 29-6 demolition of the keen Turks as a precursor to their historic win over England.
Good judges are suggesting order has been restored in the men’s triples with incumbent Commonwealth Games gold medalists Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver and Darren Burnett reigning supreme as the only unbeaten nation in Section 1, while the Jersey boys Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham and Malcolm De Sousa have banked three wins and a draw to be the only unscathed team in Section 2.
However, teams have seven more rounds in which to stake their claims for Atlantic medals and, importantly, qualification into next year’s world championships on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Other disciplines are also hotting-up with Namibia and Isle of Man leading their sections in the men’s pairs, while South Africa and England are overnight leaders in the women’s fours.
Likewise, as the blue ribbon women’s singles competition nears its halfway point, South African great Colleen Piketh leads Section 1, while Caroline Brown from Scotland heads the table in Section 2.
Of note has been Welsh singles representative Sara Marie Nicholls, who powered her way to a second 21-0 victory for the event at Barry Athletic club this morning, having whitewashed her opening round opponent on Friday. Her only indiscretion in a fine performance has been a single shot loss to Brown in Round 3.
Photo: Commonwealth Games gold medalists Derek Oliver, Ronnie Duncan and Darren Burnett have eased into favouritism in the men’s triples competition.
2019 Atlantic Bowls Championships, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Day 2:
Women’s singles:
Sec.1: Rd.4: IRE (Courtney Wright) bt SUI (Larissa Rubin) 21-15, ISR (Ruti Gilor) bt ZIM (Caryn Sinclair) 21-14, JER (Chloe Greechan) bt ESP (Maggie Holmes) 21-18, GUE (Lucy Beere) bt ARG (Inis Jaimez) 21-7, RSA (Colleen Piketh) bt NAM (Bianca Lewis) 21-8. Rd.5: IRE bt BRA (Fernanda Spelta) 21-8, ARG bt ESP 19-13, JER bt ISR 19-17, RSA bt ZIM 21-13, NAM bt SUI 21-8,
Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 12 points +37 shots, IRE 12 +35, ISR 12 +34, GUE 9 +45, JER 9 Sq, NAM 6 +2, ZIM 6 +1, BRA 3 -32, ARG 3 -37, SUI 3 -40, ESP 0 -45.
Sec.2: Rd.4: NED (Saskia Schaft) bt MLT (Sharon Callus) 21-7, ENG (Natalie Chestney) bt FRA (Cindy Royet) 21-19, WAL (Sara Marie Nicholls) bt TUR (Eylem Carcabuk) 21-0, SCO (Caroline Brown) bt IOM (Pam Makin) 21-6. Rd.5: WAL bt CYP (Hazel Bagshaw) 21-6, NED bt BOT (Marea Modutlwa) 21-19, MLT bt TUR 21-0, FRA bt IOM 21-10.
Current standings: SCOTLAND 12 points +55 shots, ENG 12 +26, WAL 9 +56, NED 9 +17, FRA 6 +11, MLT 6 -31, BOT 3 +9, CYP 3 -11, IOM 0 -43, TUR 0 -89.
Women’s fours:
Sec.1: Rd.3: SCO (Hannah Smith, Stacey McDougall, Megan Grantham, Claire Johnston) bt IOM (Marcia Pearson, Karen Slack, Bernice McGreal, Janice Pilling) 16-12, KEN (Susan Kariuki, Grace Njuguna, Sophy Kihuyu, Esther Ndungu) bt MLT (Rita Hedges, Rose Rixon, Rebecca Rixon, Connie Rixon) 17-7, NAM (Anjuleen Viljoen, Elzaan De Vries, Amanda Steenkamp, Diana Viljoen) bt TUR (Havva Konanc, Ceyda Arac, Filiz Adiguzel, Rahsan Akar) 18-9, RSA (Jacqui Van Rensburg, Nici Neal, Esmé Kruger, Anneke Snyman) bt NED (Elly Dolieslager, Betty Schiltman, Ineke Nagtegaal, Norma Duin) 17-12. Rd.4: GUE (Rose Ogier, Jackie Nicolle, Lyn Small, Gwen De La Mare) bt TUR 23-4, RSA bt IOM 27-4, KEN bt SCO 21-20, MLT bt NAM 16-13.
Current standings: SOUTH AFRICA 10 points +58 shots, KEN 10 +17, SCO 9 +34, NAM 6 +13, MLT 6 -20, NED 3 -5, GUE 1 -18, IOM 0 -33, TUR 0 -46.
Sec.2: Rd.3: ENG (Jamie-Lea Winch, Rebecca Wigfield, Lorraine Kuhler, Sian Honnor) bt ARG (Sara Jaimez, Celia Nunez, Ana Ramos, Gabriela Villamarin) 26-5, JER (Ethel Southern, Lorraine Bowman, Jean Holmes, Fiona Archibald) bt IRE (Sarah Kelly, Ashleigh Rainey, Shauna O’Neill, Sarah-Jane Curran) 15-9, ISR (Shira Eshel, Irit Grencel, Edna Bomberg, Tami Kamzel) bt ESP (Debbie Colquhoun, Lynne Eldon, Gillian Atkinson, Jenny Thompson) 26-6, ZIM (Allyson Dale, Melanie James, Heather Singleton, Kerry Craven) bt SUI (Noelle Iseli, Caroline Lehmann, Simone Kunz, Simone Iseli) 31-5. Rd.4: ZIM bt WAL (Melanie Thomas, Bethan Russ, Ysie White, Anwen Butten) 16-12, JER bt ISR 10-6, ARG bt IRE 16-14, SUI bt ESP 19-14.
Current standings: ENGLAND 9 points +43 shots, ISR 9 +41, JER 9 +14, WAL 6 +25, ZIM 6 +23, IRE 3 +15, ARG 3 -44, SUI 3 -50, ESP 0 -67.
Men’s pairs:
Sec.1: Rd.4: GUE (Matt Solway, Matt Le Ber) bt TUR (Vuslat Arac, Ozkan Akar) 17-11, IRE (Aaron Tennant, Mark Wilson) bt JAM (Martin Edwards, Mervyn Edwards) 32-4, ENG (Steve Mitchinson, Jamie Walker) bt BRA (Joao Correa, Peter Gordon) 24-9, NAM (John Fouche, Cabous Olivier) bt SUI (Thomas Schneiter, Beat Matti) 39-11, ESP (Tom Rogers, Graham Cathcart) bt ZIM (Elliah Mbulawa, Denis Streak) 18-16, RSA (Wayne Rittmuller, Pierre Breitenbach) bt ARG (Rodolfo Muller, Jose Riveros) 19-10. Rd.5: RSA bt TUR 19-9, ARG bt ESP 16-13, IRE bt BRA 27-10, GUE bt SUI 20-7, NAM bt JAM 28-14. Rd.6: NAM bt BRA 26-11, ENG bt ZIM 19-14, RSA bt SUI 26-9, GUE bt JAM 18-14, ESP bt TUR 21-17.
Current standings: NAMIBIA 18 points +67 shots, IRE 15 +75, ENG 12 +49, RSA 12 +47, GUE 12 +27, ESP 12 +17, ZIM 6 +2, TUR 3 -21, ARG 3 -33, JAM 0 -68, SUI 0 -85.
Sec.2: Rd.3: NED (Jan Dolieslager, Frank De Vries) bt CZE (Jan Letal, Karel Sturm) 42-5, MLT (Mark Malogorski, Brendan Aquilina) bt KEN (Benson Wambugu, Joseph Kitosi) 24-17, IOM (Clive McGreal, Mark McGreal) bt BOT (John Gaborutwe, Remmy Kebaptse) 17-11, FRA (Guillaume Hertzog, Virgile Machado) bt CYP (Neal O’Neill, Martin McMillan) 24-16, SCO (Paul Foster, Alex Marshall) bt WAL (Ross Owen, Dan Salmon) 19-11, ISR (Daniel Alonim, Zvika Hadar) bt JER (Derek Boswell, Ross Davis) 18-10. Rd.4: NED bt WAL 16-14, IOM bt CYP 28-3, JER bt KEN 24-11, MLT bt ISR 17-14, BOT bt FRA 23-13, SCO bt CZE 31-11.
Current standings: ISLE OF MAN 12 points +43 shots, MLT 12 +21, SCO 9 -44, BOT 9 +26, NED 6 +29, JER 6 +23, KEN 6 +9, ISR 6 +4, WAL 3 +19, FRA 3 -33, CYP 0 -87, CZE 0 -98.
Men’s triples:
Sec.1: Rd.3: CYP (Bob Manson, Colin Hall, Scott Ferguson) bt BRA (Gilberto Gelbrand, Heitor Correa, Keith Rowland) 20-10, ZIM (Myles Hopper, Mike Eaton, Clive Robertson) bt FRA (Maxime Faure, David Ducote, Amaury Dumont) 16-11, KEN (David Salmon, Charles Wambugu, Andrew Jones) bt CZE (Jindrich Svaton, Vitezslav Svaton, Libor Svaton) 26-7, SCO (Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver, Darren Burnett) bt NAM (Piet Appolis, Johan Jacobs, Will Esterhuizen) 20-12, IRE (Adam McKeown, Neil Mulholland, Andrew Kyle) bt ESP (John Pooley, Brian Manser, Derek Eldon) 19-12. Rd.4: ESP bt MLT (Peter Tonna, Wes Hedges, Len Callus) 19-17, ZIM bt KEN 17-13, FRA bt CZE 24-7, NAM bt CYP 20-18, SCO bt BRA 24-7,
Current standings: SCOTLAND 12 points +50 shots, IRE 9 +51, KEN 6 +18, NAM 6 +7, BRA 6 +2, CYP 6 -3, ZIM 6 -8, MLT 3 -5, FRA 3 -6, ESP 3 -26, CZE 0 -80.
Sec.2: Rd.3: ARG (Ricardo Rubinat, Jorge Barreto, Raul Pollet) bt TUR (Huseyin Tukenmez, Ozgur Ozturk, Serkan Akar) 29-6, ISR (Selwyn Hare, Allan Saitowitz, Danny Slodownik) bt BOT (Ajit Naik, Baven Balendra, Binesh Desai) 16-11, JER (Greg Davis, Scott Ruderham, Malcolm De Sousa) bt WAL (Ben Thomas, Stephen Harris, Jon Tomlinson) 13-12, GUE (Terry Brokenshire, Mick Ogier, Chris Dyer) bt SUI (Sven Rubin, Thomas Walti, Ulrich Hausler) 30-9. Rd.4: ARG bt ENG (Ian Lesley, David Bolt, Sam Tolchard) 18-11, RSA (Prince Neluonde, Jason Evans, Billy Radloff) bt GUE 18-12, JER bt ISR 17-14, WAL bt BOT 27-11.
Current standings: JERSEY 10 points +9 shots, RSA 7 +28, ENG 6 +42, WAL 6 +40, ARG 6 +25, GUE 6 +18, BOT 3 -14, ISR 3 -15, SUI 0 -63, TUR 0 -70.
