Silver medal haul in Hong Kong
Australian’s Mathew Pietersen, Matthew Baus, Carla Odgers and Kelsey Cottrell have claimed silver at the Hong Kong International after both the men and ladies pairs combinations went down to the Philippines in last night’s finals.
After the completion of 11 sectional matches both Australia and the Philippines topped the men’s and ladies sections and progressed through the semi-finals to set up a top of the table clash in front of over 500 spectators.
Mathew Pietersen and Matthew Baus defeated Concordia in the semi-final 1.5 sets to .5 after scoring four shots on the final end of the second set to prevent the match going into a tiebreak.
Odgers and Cottrell’s semi-final against Trans-Tasman rivals the New Zealanders went the distance; Australia won the first set 10-3 with only eight ends required however they went down in the second set 5-8 and won the tie-break 3-2 after snatching two on the final end to win the match.
The two best performing countries Australia and the Philippines didn’t fail to deliver in the final with both games going down to the wire.
Pietersen and Baus tried everything to shake off their Filipino opposition who were playing extraordinary, especially with weighted shots that were costing the Australian’s shots time and time again.
After dropping the first set 8-9 the Australian combination threw maximum length ends and got themselves back into the match leading 8-6; however two unlucky results on consecutive ends for Baus when attacking the head saw the Philippines jump ahead by three playing the ninth end.
A gallant effort was made by the Australian skipper with his final bowl attempting to trail the jack for four shots to take the match into a tiebreak; he made contact but only managed to edge the jack around the corner and not directly back where Australia’s three bowls sat.
There was only one shot between Australia and the Philippines in the women’s pairs final with Odgers and Cottrell going down against Sonia Bruce and Ainie Knight 11-12, 10-10.
In both sets Australia led going into the last end but was unable to hold out the Filipino’s who never gave in.
In the first set Australia were behind by five after four ends until they scored a multiple count of five to level the match.
On the final end Australia had their nose in front by one but they were out-drawn by the Philippines who scored two when Cottrell’s last went through the gap between the shot bowl and the jack.
The second set was looking promising for Australia who led 9-6 with four ends to play.
Twice the Australian’s were holding on minimum length ends before Knight got the shot on both occasions, on the end between Odgers sprung the jack out and Cottrell drew the shot to take the Australian’s to 10, and then the Aussie’s held the set with Odgers side toucher on the penultimate end.
The shot stood until Knight’s final bowl when she drove Australia’s shot out clean to score two shots to draw the set and claim victory for the ecstatic Filipino pair.
The two silver medals won by the Australian contingent in Hong Kong add to what was a sensational day for Australia across two continents.
Five medals in total for Australia with three of those coming from the World U’25 Championships where Australia crowned two new World Champions, Dylan Fisher and Chloe Stewart.
