Bronze for bowlers

Press, 20 July 1984, Page 34

Bronze for bowlers

DIANA DEKKER,

Aberdeen The New Zealand triples team has won a bronze medal at the world bowls championships. It was won, as the New Zealand team manager, Kerry . Clark, remarked afterwards, in a “no contest competition.” The New Zealanders thrashed Hong Kong, the runners-up in the B section of the triples championships, 27-8. Ireland, which New Zealand had to play in its section of early games, thrashed the B section winners, Scotland, 29-11, to win the gold medal. There was no doubt who

the best bowlers were in the eight-strong finals — Ireland and New Zealand. Yet because of the way the early sections were structured, the New Zealand triples team did not get a chance to play Scotland. Sections were structured in relation to performances at the last world championships, in Melbourne four years ago, but there was no doubt in the Aberdeen competition that section B provided an easier way into the finals than section A, where both New Zealand and Ireland played. Previous bowls championships have eliminated such idiosyncracies by holding round robin play. But this meant in Melbourne that

players were having to be up at 6 a.m. and were not home until nearly midnight getting all the necessary games played. Mr Clark is not alone in thinking the present competition structure is far from adequate. “Those who won wouldn’t have any grumbles, but players are generally not happy with the way it is being done now and it will have to be looked at before 1988 and the next world championships,” said Mr Clark. The placings in the triples were.—lreland, Scotland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia, Zambia, the United States of America and Zimbabwe.