Australia’s Kristina Krstic has denied Blackjack Katelyn Inch the crown of World Youth Women’s Singles Champion after defeating the Gold Coast-based Cantabrian 21-14 at Inch’s new home club of Broadbeach.

The win is Krstic’s second singles title and third overall at the World Youth Championships after winning both the Singles and Mixed Pairs in 2015.

Inch can hold her head high in claiming the silver medal in what was an outstanding display of bowls worthy of a final.

Taking an early 4-nil lead after converting heads with her last bowl while Krstic held superbly drawn shots, Inch went toe to toe with Krstic with neither player seemingly able to land a killer blow or string multiple shots together on consecutive ends, simply due to the standard of bowls from both bowlers.

The cat and mouse game was all locked up at 11 apiece, with Inch holding 3 shots. Krstic took advantage of an Inch mistake and picked up a shot of her own to move ahead 12-11. As innocuous as it seemed, this shot was the impetus Krstic needed to give her some momentum.

Instead of side-resting touchers which was the norm for Inch earlier in the game, her first two bowl draw attempts began to creep out to 2 and 3 feet away just for a couple of ends and Krstic took full advantage, collecting a couple of multiple counts to end Inch’s hopes.

Blackjacks Coach Sharon Sims (pictured above with Bruce (left) and Inch (right)) spoke about the importance of having Inch and fellow Commonwealth Game rep Tayla Bruce spending a full week on the greens that they will be encountering in a month’s time at the Games and how invaluable this experience was.

Bruce finished with the bronze medal after falling to Krstic in yesterday’s semi final.

The match was streamed Live on Bowls New Zealand’s Facebook page and has had over 11,000 views online. A full replay of the game and a post-match interview with Katelyn Inch will be available soon.

World Youth Championships – Broadbeach BC, Gold Coast

Men's Singles Final

Aaron Teys (Australia) def Ross Owen (Wales) 21-12

Women's Singles Final

Kristina Krstic (Australia) def KATELYN INCH (NEW ZEALAND) 21-13

Mixed Pairs Final

Ellen Ryan/Aaron Teys (Australia) def Shae Wilson (Norfolk Island)/Ryan Burnett (Scotland) 20-5