Young stars Aaron Teys from Australia and Laura Daniels from Wales rose to the sport’s dizziest height today when they won the men’s and women’s World Singles Champion of Champions title in Sydney, Australia.
Ironically, when young Teys won the Australian Open singles championships in 2015 a small band of doubters reckoned it was a case of beginner’s luck, but today at the palatial St Johns Bowling Club, the 22-year-old from Warilla, claimed the sport’s ultimate title in a scintillating performance.
Teys, 22, eclipsed top New Zealander Dean Elgar 12-1 8-4 to clinch the championships – in reality he never gave the smooth swinging Kiwi a chance to settle, allowing him only one scoring end in the first set and three in the second.
Earlier in the day Malaysian superstar Emma Firyana Saroji’s quest to become the event’s first dual winner came up short at the hands of reigning world pairs champion Laura Daniels from Wales.
In a brilliant exhibition of singles played in damp trying conditions, Daniels survived a Saroji match lay on the final end of the second set when the Malaysian held three close counters and Daniels, the 2015 world indoor singles winner, managed to draw second shot to win the set and force a three-end tiebreaker.
After scoring a single shot apiece, in the three-end decider, the coup de grâce came when Daniels held four counters and Saroji’s last despairing attempt to clinch a second title went wide.
The Daniels victory is the second Welsh triumph in this event, following on from Kathy Pearce’s success at Aberdeen, Scotland, in
Results:
Women’s final: Laura Daniels (WAL) bt Emma Firyana Saroji (MAS) 6-8 7-5 5-1.
Men’s final: Aaron Teys (AUS) bt Dean Elgar (NZL) 12-1 8-4.
Elimination finals:
Men: Aaron Teys (AUS) bt Arun Kumar (FIJ) 10-5 7-6, Dean Elgar (NZL) bt Barry Kane (IRE) 7-4 7-7.
Women: Laura Daniels (WAL) bt Nici Neal (RSA) 10-4 6-5, Emma Firyana Saroji (MAS) bt Carla Krizanic (AUS) 10-2 4-9 5-0.
Semi finals:
Men: Aaron Teys (AUS) bt David Kingdon (WAL) 7-7 8-6, Dean Elgar (NZL) bt Derek Oliver (SCO) 10-5 10-7.
Women: Emma Firyana Saroji (MAS) bt Donna Knight (ENG) 11-10 12-6, Laura Daniels (WAL) bt Selina Goddard (NZL) 8-2 11-2.