No fours qualifying surprises at bowls nationals

There were no surprises in the qualifiers for fours post-section play at the national bowls championships in Wellington today.

Favourites in both the men's and women's events eased through after battling warm and blustery conditions today.

In the men's event, the composite team of Ryan Bester, Gary Lawson, Danny Delany and Kelvin Scott cruised through the qualifying rounds with an unbeaten record.

Joining them will be defending champions Peter Belliss, Kevin B Robinson, Steve Posa and Justin Goodwin; and the Dwayne Cameron-skipped Papatoetoe four, all with convincing victories in section play.

The fancied combination of Australian-based Black Jacks Richard Girvan, Ali Forsyth and this year's national singles champion Andrew Todd, joined by former New Zealand representative Sean O'Neill eventually secure a berth, but struggled after losing two games and requiring the last to qualify.

Other formidable combinations to make the cut include the Skoglund/Khan four, the Rob Ashton-skipped team of Ken Walker, Richard Corry and Ray Boffa; and New Zealand under-25 representative Andrew Kelly teamed with Lance Pascoe, Nick Buttar and Dave Good.

In the women's section, the highly favoured team of Karen Coombe, Helen King, Clare McCaul and Genevieve Baildon waltzed through section play unbeaten, and look to be in damaging form going into the knock-out rounds.

The other highly rated contenders in the form of Sue Burnand, Mandy Boyd, Angela Boyd and Leanne Curry completed their road to a post-section placing racking up a solid five wins and were not required to play the last.

The surprise of the tournament came from the Sharon Sims-skipped combination from the Northern Bowling Club of Viz Lozell, Feona Sayles and Kay Hammond, who had their title hopes smashed early, managing only two wins out of the six games.

Post-section play will commence tomorrow with both disciplines (men and women) playing the round of the last 32. The last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played on Friday with the two finals scheduled for Saturday.

- NZPA