Sport Johnston and Ackland lead

Press, 1 December 1988, Page 6

Sport Johnston and Ackland lead

PA Auckland Margaret Johnston (Ireland) and Janet Ackland (Wales) appear the most likely singles finalists at the world women’s bowls championships at Henderson. Johnston, who lost two of her first four games, has won her last four and now leads section B by a point from Fiji's Maraia Lum On, who heads Joan Humphreys (Hong Kong) and Rebecca Akaruru (Cook Is) on differential. Only Geua Tau (Papua New Guinea) and Maria Gismondi (Argentina) stand between Johnston and a place in the final tomorrow afternoon. Johnston, although unbeaten in her three games yesterday, said she was not playing as well as she would like. Against Fleur Bougourd (Guernsey), in her first game of the day, Johnston trailed four times before drawing level at 18-18 after 22 ends with a four. A two on the next gave the Irishwoman a 20-18 lead. Bougourd got one back on the next before Johnston got the shot she wanted to win, 21-19. It was a similar stoiy in the next with Johnston again battling. She led 5-0 after two ends, but Miriam Jankelowitz (Israel) scored 2,3, 1 for a 65 lead. Johnston then had a golden 1,3, 2, 3 run for a 14-6 lead before her opponent scored on the next seven ends to close to within a shot at 1413 U Three singles took Johnston to 17-13, but she then

dropped a four for 17-17. Johnston’s reply was an immediate three shots on the next for 20-17. Jankelowitz got one back on the 21st, but Johnston got the one she wanted on the next for a 2118 win. Johnston then had her most important win when she beat Humphreys, 21-11. Babs Anderson (Botswana), who led the section at the start of the day, lost 13-21 to Akaruru and 19-21 to Gismondi, slipping almost certainly from medal contention. The other section is headed by Ackland and Scot Senga McCrone. Whereas McCrone faces the unpredictable Novi Browing (Norfolk Islands) and then the Kiwi hope, Millie Khan, in the last two rounds, Ackland has an apparently easier passage with games against American Joyce Schindler and Helen Graham (Zambia). Should Ackland or McCrone crack under the pressure, the defending champion, Merle Richardson (Australia), is ready to pounce. Richardson overcame a bad second day when she lost three of four games to move into fourth place, a point from the lead and ahead of Khan and Ayres Soh (Singapore) on differential. Khan kept her medal hopes flickering with a 21-7 win over Dorothy Macey, of Canada, who had started the day’s play in second place behind McCrone. In one of the best games of the-Uay, McCrone beat Macey 21-19 in a 29-end thriller.