National & International Events Report – Monday 29 July 2024

While North Harbour’s representatives at the national champion of champion pairs play-offs in Dunedin at the weekend missed out on top honours there was some major success for the centre in far-away Singapore.

Former BNH chairperson, Robyne Walker, playing with national singles champion Leeanne Poulson, from Countries-Manukau, won the Singapore Lion City pairs sets tournament, beating the host country’s Philo Goh and Mary Lim in the final, 7-5, 5-5.

But in Dunedin at the weekend, Takapuna Lisa Dickson and Lauren Mills in the women’s event and Riverhead’s Grant Goodwin and Gordon Smith in the men’s failed to make the final eight.

Lisa and Lauren won only one of their four games to finish 12th of the 18 teams and Grant and Gordon won two of five games to finish in 14th place of the 25 teams.

The closest North Harbour came to the major honours was indirectly in the women’s event where Bay of Plenty’s Gayle Melrose, playing with Marilyn Constantine, made the semi-finals. Gayle is a former Birkenhead member and in 2012 was in that club’s four which won the national championship title.

Auckland’s Aggie Motu and Lesley McLinden won the women’s title and Northland’s Paul Williams and John Carruthers won the men’s.

The Singapore tournament counted towards world ranking points and as well as Robyne and Leeanne there were top efforts from other New Zealanders at the event, the national men’s singles champion Sheldon Bagrie-Howley and his partner Keanau Darby and in the women’s under 25, Briar Atkinson and Olivia Mancer.

Robyne and Leeanne did well, too, earlier, making the ends quarter-finals, only to be beaten by the eventual winners from the Philippines, Ainie Knight and Angleica Abatayo.

There were eight countries competing in Singapore: China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, a reflection of bowls’ rapid growth in Asia.