Sun shining, slight breeze and high of 29 degrees today was on the cards for today's play and that is exactly what we got going into the fourth day of sectional play today at the World Champion of Champions.
The first matchup was between Dean and Thailands Uthen Ontong. Dean raced off to a strong lead in the first set being 5-0 in front after 3 ends. He just managed to hold onto that lead going into the 9thend only giving away 1 shot to Uthen and taking first set 9-8. Dean soared through the second half of the match being 6-0 in front after three ends and carrying through his solid performance taking the set and game win 12-6.
Deans second game of the day was against Israels Zvika Hadar. Hadar has held his game through the many matches in the section and is currently sitting in fourth position so Dean knew this was an important match ahead. Shot for shot the men were 5 all after playing the 7th end but the set was seen to be Israels as in the last two ends Hadar collected 2 shots to take the first set win. Dean carried through with his solid start heading into the second set being 7-3 up after 5 ends, but fortunately for Zvika his consistency came back and took the second set win 11-7 which also gave him the game win.
Last game of the day for Dean was against Carel Olivier from Namibia. Dean played more of an aggressive game compared to his earlier two and it pulled off for our national champion winning the first set 7-6 then the next 7-4. Resulting in a 9th place position after playing 10 rounds.
It was another tough day on the green for myself first facing off against Susan Kariuki from Kenya. I took the first set win 11-2 then narrowly going down in the second set 6-7, forcing me into my first three end tie-break of the event. I secured the first end with a two and backed that up with scoring another two on second end. The last end Susan had to score a full count to stay in the game but missing the draw with her last bowl I secured the last end of the tie-break to win the game.
My second match of the day was against the handy Bernie O'Neill from Ireland. The opening set saw Bernie take the win with a convincing 10-3 score. I knew that I had to pull out that kiwi grit to win the second set and force a tie-break and that is what I did, winning the second set 10-7. Into my second tie-break of the day my aim was to get close but not too close as Bernie was having a good converting game against me, so I took a 1 in the first end while Bernie gained 1 shot playing the second, leveling up the score going into the last end of the tie-break. Holding three on the head with one bowl left from Bernie, her last shot missed a touch of a bowl onto the jack by an inch, and with that result I took the game win.
Tomorrow matches will be the final decider of my sectional standings. My first game is against Norfolk Islands who is currently sitting second on the leader board, then in my last game I play Wales who is currently sitting in first place on the leader board so it's do or die for me tomorrow!
Today's results:
Dean
- Win against Thailand 9-8, 12-6
- Loss against Israel 6-7, 7-11
- Win against Namibia 7-6, 7-4
Selina
- Win against Kenya 11-2, 6-7, 5-0
- Win against Ireland 3-10, 10-7, 4-1
- Overall position: 3rd
For Results for Dean Elgar (Men's Section 1) click here
For Results for Selina Goddard (Women's Section 2) click here
