𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝐈𝐈𝐁𝐂 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟓 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 – day one

The tournament opened with a round of the Mixed Pairs event. The standout match was the game between Shauna O’Neill and Ryan McElroy (Ireland) against the Australian pairing of Jessie Cottell and Nathan Black. Jessie and Nathan took the opening set 8 – 3 and then scored a 3 on the first end of the second set. Shauna and Ryan fought back taking the next 4 ends to take a 7 – 3 lead only to drop a 1 and a 2 on the next two ends. With Shauna and Ryan lying two shots on the final end of the set Nathan played a running bowl hoping to move the jack. He looked on target until he just edged a front bowl leaving Ryan a free bowl to draw a second shot to win the set 9 – 6. Shauna and Ryan went on to win the match on the one end tie break.

The other match in the group saw Jordan Kos & Erik Galipeau (Canada) defeat Estee Parry (Wales) & Myles Ng (Macau) 12 – 1, 8 – 3 to lead the Group C table on 3 points.

Having played 2 matches in the day Emily Kernick and Harry Goodwin (England), who won this event in 2022, are the current leaders in the Group A table with 6 points from their 2 victories over Shae Wilson & Jordy Jones (Norfolk Island) 8 – 5, 7 – 5 followed by a 9 – 4, 9 – 8 victory over Erin Bedwell (Scotland) & Angel Gomez (USA). Aleena Binti Ahmad Nawawi & Muhammad Idham Amin Bin Ramlan (Malaysia) are also undefeated in the group after one match where the beat Rebecca Rixon (Malta) & John-Pierre Fouche (Namibia) 8 – 5, 9 – 3.
Group B, currently sees two teams with three points, Rebecca Moorbey (England) & Jan Klossner (Switzerland) lead the table followed by Gloria Ha & Langley Au Yeung (Hong Kong) after their victories over (Husband and Wife, Catherine & Josh Bonsall (Guernsey) and Sophie McGrouther & Bradley Buchan (Scotland) respectively on tie breaks.

In Group D, Lauren Gowen and Ryan Davies (Wales) had a convincing victory over (Sarolta Schrank and Mate Dobos (Hungary) two sets to nil, whilst Emma Murphy and Kholwani Khanyile (South Africa) also won 2 sets to nil over Aimee Harris (Scotland) & Yuta Nagamoto (Japan).

Every player has now played at least 1 match in their singles events, in the Ladies Singles three players have played two matches in Group A. Jordan Kos (Canada) leads the group with 2 wins over Aleena Binti Ahmad Nawawi (Malaysia) & Erin Bedwell (Scotland) by 2 sets to 1 and 2 sets to 0. Shauna O’Neill (Ireland) has 3 points from her only game against Lauren Gowen (Wales) winning 7 – 5, 5 – 3. Erin also has three points after a 2 sets to 1 victory over Lauren Gowen.
Group B has Shae Wilson (Norfolk Island) at the top following a 10 – 2, 11 – 3 victory over Aimee Harris (Scotland), whilst Emily Kernick (England) snatch a tie break victory over Glorai Ha (Hong Kong) 8 – 1, 5 – 6, 1 – 0.

Group C, Australian Jessie Cottell, hoping to follow team mate Brianna Smith in winning the Ladies title, tops the group on shot difference over South African, Emma Murphy after both players had two sets to nil victories over Estee Parry (Wales) and Sarolta Schrank (Hungary).
The matches in group D were tight affairs and both went to the tie break. Rebecca Rixon (Malta) overcame Rebecca Moorbey (England) 11 – 7, 5 – 7, 1 – 0 whilst Catherine Bonsall (Guernsey) came through a tighter match against Sophie McGrouther (Scotland) 2 – 5, 10 -8, 1 -0.

In the Mens Singles, Ryan Davies leads the way in group A having won his 2 matches today. In the first he defeated Kholwani Khanyile 10 -, 11 -3 whilst in his second match he overcame Angel Gomez (USA) 7 – 5, 9 – 4. John-Pierre Fouche (Namibia) is second in the group on shot difference after winning his first match 7 -4, 9 – 2 against Yuta Nagamoto (Japan), also on 3 points is Kholwani Khanyile who came through a tight match against John-Pierre Fouche 7 – 4, 5 – 4.

Harry Goodwin (England) made an impressive start to the defence of his title, in Group B, by winning his first match against Josh Bonsall (Guernsey) 7 – 3, 10 – 4. The other match in the group saw a very tight match between Myles Ng (Macau) and Erik Galipeau (Canada). Only 16 shots were scored in the two seven end sets with Myles winning the first 5 – 4. Erik fought back in the second set with a narrow 4 – 3 victory, only to lose a shot on the tie break allowing Myles to take the three points for the win.

Bradley Buchan (Scotland) leads the host nation challenge and tops group C after a 2 sets to nil victory over Mate Dobos (Hungary), also on 3 points in the group is Muhammad Idham Amin Bin Ramlan (Malaysia) who defeated Jordy Jones ( Norfolk Island) 8 – 2, 5 – 2.

Ryan McElroy (Ireland) narrowly leads Nathan Black (Australia), in group D, after both players were successful over Jan Klossner (Switzerland) 8 – 4, 13 – 1 and Langley Au Yeung (Hong Kong) respectively.

Group play continues on Tuesday with all matches being covered through live scoring on the IIBC website.

📷 Article and photos: Gordon Wood

The International Indoor Bowls Council (IIBC) and World Bowls Under 25 World Championships is being staged at East Kilbride IBC, December 4-8.