New Zealand’s young bowls talent find themselves in precarious positions after Day 3 of the World Youth Championships held at the Gold Coast’s Broadbeach Bowls Club.
Eight of the nine rounds of Mixed Pairs have been completed, with both New Zealand teams sitting 3rd in their sections. The top 3 teams in each section qualify for finals.
Despite currently sitting in a finals qualifying position, New Zealand has other countries breathing down their necks.
The Gold Coast's Broadbeach Bowling Club - venue for the 2018 World Championships
The Tayla Bruce/Keanu Darby combination currently sit on 4 wins/3 losses +21, with Canada’s Pricilla Westlake/Rob Law biting at their heels on +19. Malaysia and Papua New Guinea are also within striking distance.
Bruce and Darby will lock horns with a difficult Guernsey pairing of Connor and Sophie Rabey who have amassed 3 wins themselves. Lose their final sectional match and Bruce/Darby will almost certainly miss qualifying – whilst even a win may see them miss, dependent on the result of the Canada v Papua New Guinea final round match.
The equation is slightly easier for Katelyn Inch/Rory Soden who’s closest rivals Wales in 4th spot have a final round Bye and cannot overtake the Kiwis, whilst 5th placed Hong Kong will need to win their last match and rely on Inch/Soden falling to bottom of the table Ireland to leapfrog New Zealand into the finals.
Meanwhile, the Singles for men and women has begun, with the Blackjack Commonwealth Games duo of Inch and Bruce both starting well.
After 4 completed rounds, Katelyn Inch has recorded three wins (Hong Kong/Canada/Guernsey) and a 21-17 loss to Australia’s Ellen Ryan, while Tayla Bruce has defeated Austalia’s Kristin Krstic 21-10, Hong Kong’s Yunse Ha 21-7, Canada’s Carah Webster and enjoyed a Bye.
The New Zealand men in their singles are not faring quite so well, with Keanu Darby yet to record a win after four rounds. Rory Soden has registered 2 wins, a Bye and a 21-6 loss to Australia’s Aaron Teys.
There is still a huge amount of bowls yet to be played at Broadbeach and the Kiwi contingent will be looking to notch up as many wins as they can to put themselves in finals contention.
World Youth Championships – Broadbeach BC, Gold Coast
Mixed Pairs Section 1 with 1 round remaining
Australia 7.5 wins +99
Malta/Namibia 5 +26
NEW ZEALAND T Bruce K Darby 4 +21
Canada 4 +19
Malaysia 3.5 +1
Papua New Guinea 3 +7
Guernsey 3 -27
Hong Kong 2 -29
Turkey 0 -117
Mixed Pairs Section 2 with 1 round remaining
Australia 6 wins +70
Norfolk Island/Scotland 5 +37
NEW ZEALAND K Inch R Soden 3.5 +21
Wales 3.5 -10
Hong Kong 3 -19
Australia/Papua New Guinea 2 -36
Canada 1 -20
Ireland 1 -43
