PREMIER LEAGUE BOWLS PREVIEW

On Sep 28, 2011 697

Here is a preview of the Premier League Bowls tounament to be played at Athena Beach between the 3rd-5th October.

The stars competing are:

Paul Foster
Mark Royal
Mervyn King
Alex Marshall
Robert Weale
Kelvin Kerkow

For more information about the competition, visit the official website www.premierleaguebowls.net.

KING HOPING TO RETAIN HIS PREMIER LEAGUE CROWN

DEFENDING Premier League Bowls Champion Mervyn King has hailed the event as the pinnacle of the bowls calendar.

King is one of six players who will be taking part in the fourth staging of the competition, which will be held at the Athena Beach Hotel in Paphos, Cyprus from Monday, October 3 to Wednesday, October 5.

He clinched the 2010 title with a thrilling final victory over five-time World Champion Alex Marshall in an epic encounter that was decided by a one-end tie-break.

“It’s nice to go back and have a chance of winning it again,” said Norfolk-based King.

“It was very hard to win, especially with the format, and the fact you’re playing the best opponents.

“Everyone in it is capable of winning and every game will be hard to win.

“The match against Alex was a good game and it could’ve gone either way and went down to the last end. I thought he had done enough to get the shot but I managed to get the title and it was a nice way to end the season.

“It’s the pinnacle of the bowls calendar as you have to win a tournament to get into it.

“Not many players get into it so you have to make the most of it when you get a chance.”

Current World Champion Paul Foster, who won the Premier League Bowls title in 2008 and 2009, is among the line-up, while Marshall will be aiming to go one better than his two losing final appearances.

Welsh Grand Prix Champion Mark Royal returns after a two-year absence with the gold medalists from the last two Commonwealth Games – Australian Kelvin Kerkow and Welshman Robert Weale – completing the line-up.

Each competitor plays the other five men once in a round-robin basis with the top four advancing to the next phase.

The players finishing third and fourth compete in the first play-off with the winner facing the man who came second in the league.

Whoever wins that second play-off faces the league winner in the overall final where the champion will pocket £10,000.

Once again the Power Play, Matchroom’s innovation that sees one end in each set score double, returns to add another tactical element to the matches.

All of the action will be filmed and Matchroom Sport will produce a one-hour highlights programme from each of the matches, which will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the near future.

2011 PREMIER LEAGUE BOWLS

ATHENA BEACH HOTEL, PAPHOS, CYPRUS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3 TO WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5

Paul Foster (South Ayrshire, Scotland) – Current World Champion. World number one.

Mark Royal (Suffolk, England) – Current Welsh Grand Prix Champion. World number 4

Mervyn King (Norfolk, England) – Current Premier League Champion. World number five.

Alex Marshall (East Lothian, Scotland) – Five-time World Champion. World number seven

Robert Weale (Powys, Wales) – 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist. World number 11.

Kelvin Kerkow (Australia) – 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medalist. World number 19.