Merrien and Anderson continue fine mixed pairs form
The World Bowls Indoor Championships in Bristol are serving up their fair share of shock results, and providing great entertainment for an appreciative crowd, who love to see outsiders upstage the favourites.
South Africa’s Colleen Piketh, 49, a Commonwealth Games women’s pairs gold medallist in Glasgow in 2014, and silver medallist on the Gold Coast in 2018, crashed to an unexpected defeat at the hands of Rose Ogier, a 66-year-old legal assistant from Guernsey.
Having won her opening match yesterday (MON), the hotly-tipped South African can still qualify for the knockout stage if she can beat Hong Kong’s Gloria Ha in her last group game tomorrow (WED).
In the men’s singles, Gary Kelly, the Australia-based Irishman, who is the proud holder of the WB World Cup, scraped through by the skin of his teeth against Malaysia’s Fairus Jabal after winning the first set, 8-2. Jabal took the second, 9-1, but Kelly claimed the winning single on the one-end-shoot-out, winning a tense measure by a fraction of an inch.
Ozkan Akar, an inspirational character who is busy developing bowls in Turkey, skipped his wife Rahsan to a splendid 9-4, 12-4 mixed pairs win over experienced Israelis Selwyn Hare and Ruthy Gilor, while Singapore’s Zoher Motiwalla and May Lee chalked up a surprise 5-4, 7-7 win over Ayub Qureshi, representing Pakistan, and the mich decorated Scot, Julie Forrest.
Meanwhile, Guernsey’s Alison Merrien and Scotland’s Stewart Anderson, who are the International Indoor Bowls Council’s reigning men’s and women’s world singles champions, won handsomely again, and appear on course to win these brand new titles.
They also combined brilliantly to beat Australia’s Robbie Briglia and Genevieve Delves, 7-1, 10-1 – though the score does scant justice to the combative Aussies.
Briglia and Delves faced a couple of Channel Islanders in the late singles session, and once again had to give best, Briglia losing on a tiebreak to Guernsey’s Ian Merrien, husband of Alison, and Delves suffering the same fate against Jersey’s rising star Megan Kivlin.
RESULTS
MIXED PAIRS:-
Section 1:
Lara Reaney & *Gary Kelly (Ireland) bt Garrett & Mark McGreal (Isle of Man) 8-4, 7-5;
Rahsan Akar & Ozkan Akar (Turkey) bt Selwyn Hare & Ruthy Gilor (Israel) 9-4, 12-4.
Section 2:
Nurul Alyani Jamal & M Fairus Jabal (Malaysia) bt Rose Ogier & Ian Merrien (Guernsey) 11-4, 7-6;
Amy Williams (Wales) & Olle Backgren (Sweden) bt Marea Modutlwa & Remmy Kebapetse (Botswana) 7-5, 5-5.
Section 3:
*Alison Merrien (Guernsey) & *Stewart Anderson (Scotland) bt Robbie Briglia & Genevieve Delves (Australia) 7-1, 10-1;
Zoher Motiwalla (Singapore) & May Lee (Singapore) bt M Ayub Qureshi (Pakistan) & Julie Forrest (Scotland) 5-4, 7-7.
Section 4:
Ruby Hill & Andy Walters (England) bt Ronan Olivier & Marietjie Van den Bergh (Namibia) 10-4, 5-5;
Tanida Kachanthornpak & Wattana Kadkhunthod (Thailand) bt Daphne Arthur-Almond & Cecil Alexander (Falkland Islands) 13-2, 8-2.
Section 5:
Kerry Packwood & Robert Chisholm (Wales) bt Bill Brault & Anne Nunes (USA) 8-3, 7-4;
Devon Cooper (England) & Zoltan Pavelka (Hungary) bt Arosha Jayasundara & Susil Don-Ramanayake (Sri Lanka) 14-2, 12-2.
Section 6:
Claire Anderson & Mike Stepney (Scotland) bt Gloria Ha & Arthur Lam (Hong Kong) 8-6, 7-6;
Tom Schneiter & Marianne Kuenzle (Switzerland) bt Maureen Caesar & Robert Simpson (Jamaica) 11-3, 5-4.
Section 7:
Sandra Bailie & Andy Duncan (Ireland) bt Henk Veenstra & Saskia Scaft (Nederland) 1-13, 12-2, 1-0;
Megan Kivlin & Alex Stewart (Jersey) bt Sophy Kihuyu & Benson Wambugu (Kenya) 17-1, 6-2.
Section 8:
Colleen Piketh & Jason Evans (South Africa) bt Bobbi Charlton & Hirendra Bhartu (Canada) 10-1, 8-5;
Carol Broomfield & Graham Cathcart (Spain) bt Janice Pilling (Isle of Man) & David Bolt (England) 3-13, 8-3, 1-0.
MEN’S SINGLES
Section 1:
*Stewart Anderson (Scotland) bt Arthur Lam (Hong Kong China) 9-6, 11-2;
Remmy Kebapetse (Botswana) bt Zoltan Pavelka (Hungary) 10-2, 8-3.
Section 2:
Ian Merrien (Guernsey) bt Robbie Briglia (Australia) 6-7, 7-4, 1-0;
Wattana Kadkhunthod (Thailand) bt Robert Simpson (Jamaica) 8-6, 9-5.
Section 3:
Robert Chisholm (Wales) bt Benson Wambugu (Kenya) 6-5. 7-4;
Mark McGreal (Isle of Man) bt Ayub Qureshi (Pakistan) 9-3, 14-0.
Section 4:
Jason Evans (South Africa) bt Alexander Stewart (Jersey) 8-4, 2-6. 1-0;
Zoher Motiwalla (Singapore) bt Olle Backgren (Sweden) 5-3, 10-5.
Section 5:
Mike Stepney (Scotland) bt Ronan Olivier (Namibia) 11-5, 10-4;
David Bolt (England) bt Graham Cathcart (Spain) 9-3, 10-2.
Section 6:
*Gary Kelly (Ireland) bt Fairus Jabal (Malaysia) 8-2, 1-9, 1-0;
Cecil Alexander (Falkland Islands) bt Henk Veenstra (Netherlands) 9-3, 6-9, 1-0.
Section 7:
Andy Walters (England) bt Selwyn Hare (Israel) 9-3, 17-2;
Bill Brault (USA) bt Ozkan Akar (Turkey) 6-5, 7-7.
Section 8:
Hirendra Bhartu (Canada) bt Andrew Duncan (Ireland) 5-5, 7-3;
Tom Schneiter (Switzerland) bt Susil Don-Ramanayake (Sri Lanka) 7-7, 10-2,
WOMEN’S SINGLES
Section 1:
Sandra Bailie (Ireland) bt Marietjie Van den Bergh (Namibia) 7-4, 7-3;
Bobbi Charlton (Canada) bt Maureen Caesar (Jamaica) 16-1, 13-1.
Section 2:
Megan Kivlin (Jersey) bt Genevieve Delves (Australia) 5-4, 2-10, 1-0;
Amy Williams (Wales) bt Marea Modutlwa (Botswana) 12-3, 11-1.
Section 3:
Kerry Packwood (Wales) bt Ruthy Gilor (Israel) 7-3, 15-1;
Devon Cooper (England) bt May Lee (Singapore) 8-6, 10-2.
Section 4:
Ruby Hill (England) bt Saskia Schaft (Netherlands) 4-4, 6-5;
Tanida Kachanthornpak (Thailand) bt Janice Pilling (Isle of Man) 2-7, 9-0, 1-0.
Section 5:
Rose Ogier (Guernsey) bt Colleen Piketh (South Africa) 2-9, 7-5, 1-0;
Gloria Ha (Hong Kong) bt Daphne Arthur-Almond (Falkland Islands) 7-4, 10-4.
Section 6:
Claire Anderson (Scotland) bt Paula Garrett (Isle of Man) 14-2, 11-2;
Lara Reaney (Ireland) bt Arosha Jayasundara (Sri Lanka) 13-1, 11-3.
Section 7:
Nurul Alyani Jamal (Malaysia) bt Carol Broomfield (Spain) 7-4, 7-3;
Julie Forrest (Scotland) bt Sophy Kihuyu (Kenya) 13-4, 13-1,
Section 8:
*Alison Merrien, MBE (Guernsey) bt Rahsan Akar (Turkey) 14-0, 11-2;
Anne Nunes (USA) bt Marianne Kuenzle (Switzerland) 7-5, 8-4.
Report provided by event press liaison officer David Rhys Jones
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