Australian quintet rebound after a sluggish international start
Australia’s brightest young bowls prospects commenced their international campaigns at the World Junior Championships in Broadbeach this morning, but it wasn’t an ideal start on their home deck.
Five budding under-25 stars took to the Gold Coast greens for the start of the singles discipline at the inaugural event, but results didn’t completely pan out for the green and gold nation in the opening rubber, with just one player finishing in the winners’ circle.
Australian Jackaroos and Blundstone Melbourne Roys prodigy Dylan Fisher escaped the fate handed to his national teammates, earning a first up win over Wales’ Owain Dando 21-6, but it was less a than ideal start to proceedings for the others.
Sean Ingham fell short of Malaysia’s Mohammad Fairus Bin Abd Jabal by 11 shots, while in the women’s event, Chloe Stewart finished with a 10 shot deficit to Scotland’s Stacey Laidlaw, Bolivia Millerick was handed a compressive 18 shot loss by New Zealand’s Tayla Bruce and Western Australia’s Kristina Krstic couldn’t overcome Wales’ Jessica Sims, 21-13.
The tables were almost completely turned in the second round though, with all players encountering a reversal of fortunes on the green, except for Fisher.
Fisher rests on top of his section standings courtesy of 21-14 victory against Namibia’s Waylon Wentzel, while in the other men’s pool, Igham overcame Scotlan’s Ryan Burnett by a single shot to post his first victory of the tournament.
In the women’s events, three straight wins followed the previous three straight losses, with Stewart triumphing over Malayisa’s Auni Fathiah Binti Kamis 21-12, Millerick downed Ireland’s Courtney Meneely by the same scoreline, and Krstic prevailed against New Zealand’s Selina Goddard 21-18.
The group will each play a third singles round today, with an additional six rounds completed over the next two days, and will also commence their mixed pairs discipline later today, with eight further rounds staged over the next four days, before post-sectional rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
Click here for full results from the 2014 World Junior Championships at Broadbeach.
Click here for entry lists of the competing teams.
RESULTS
Men’s singles
Dylan Fisher df Wales 21-6
Dylan Fisher df Namibia 21-14
Malaysia df Sean Ingham 21-10
Sean Ingham df Scotland-1 21-20
Women’s singles
Scotland-1 df Chloe Stewart 21-11
Chloe Stewart df Malaysia 21-12
New Zealand-2 df Bolivia Millerick 21-3
Bolivia Millerick df Ireland 21-12
Wales df Kristina Krstic 21-13
Kristina Krstic df New Zealand-1 21-18
Caption: Sean Igham, Kristina Krstic, Dylan Fisher, Chloe Stewart and Bolivia Millerick have commenced their campaigns to claim gold at the World Junior Championships. Photo: Courtesy of David Allen.
