Early exit in pairs for Smith

Double world bowls champion Val Smith's nightmare at the national championships in Wellington has continued, this time in the women's pairs.

Smith, playing with new partner Kay Hammond, needed to pull out all the stops to avoid elimination after heading into the second day of qualifying yesterday carrying over two losses.

But Smith and Hammond stumbled at the first hurdle on the Victoria greens. Tawa's Sylvia Johns and Nanette Crowe beat the favoured pair 20-14 in the morning session.

The loss handed Smith, the world singles and pairs gold medallist, her second early exit of the week, following elimination from the women's singles.

"To qualify would have been nice but we're just two friends, and it was just nice to pair up and give it a crack, but we're not too upset about it," she said.

Smith and Hammond found their feet with two wins in the afternoon, but the form reversal came too late.

In men's singles qualifying, three-time world champion Peter Belliss led the way at Upper Hutt. With three straight wins yesterday, the Sydney resident displayed all his class.

The 58-year-old admitted that while New Zealand's Commonwealth Games hopefuls were feeling the pressure, his main aim for the championships was to catch up with friends.

"As far as my aspirations go, they've been and gone," Belliss joked.

"I haven't played a great deal of singles lately, and I really don't know what happens when I get out on the rink these days."

Former five-time national singles champion Phil Skoglund, from Palmerston North's Northern Club, was eliminated yesterday, but his son Philip Skoglund and grandson Ryan Khan will represent their family in post-section play.

Australian-based title contenders Ali Forsyth and Richard Girvan qualified, but unexpectedly dropped games to Victoria's Richard Corry. Corry beat Forsyth 21-17 and Girvan 21-5 to breeze through.

Gary Lawson, playing at Whitby, safely qualified but lost one game, while Ryan Bester and Shannon McIlroy won three in a row. Young guns Nick Buttar, Andrew Kelly and Khan went through, as did Danny Delaney and Black Jack Andrew Todd.

In the women's pairs, favourites Jan and Marina Khan, sisters Mandy and Angela Boyd, and Victoria mother and daughter combination Leigh and Kirsten Griffin made the cut.

Helen King and Clare McCaul, Amy Brenton and Misty Arnold, current New Zealand open pairs champion Jan Shirley and Raelene Peters, and Karen Coombe and Genevieve Baildon have qualified. Fairfax

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