Blackjack Leeane Poulson and partner Robyne Walker delivered a gold medal finish for the OCGL sponsored New Zealand team at Singapore’s Lion City Cup, a World Bowls Series event.
Poulson and Walker won gold in the Women’s Pairs Sets tournament, beating Philomena Goh and Mary Lim from Singapore 7-5 5-5 in the final, played in hot and humid condition at the Bowls Singapore Kallang green. In the first half of the Lion City Cup week, the Kiwi pair were beaten in the quarterfinals of the Ends tournament by eventual winners Ainie Knight and Angeleca Abatayo from the Philippines.
With the prospect of additional World Bowls Series ranking points on offer, Poulson and Walker delivered in the clutch situations on Saturday. Walker drew close shots to help secure the tie-break wins in the quarterfinals against the crack Malaysian pair of Nor Zamziezah and world number 12 Nor Farah, and in the semifinals against Singapore A’s May Lee and Serena Tiong.
Again, in the final Walker drew the telling shot on the last end which was still there in the tense finish as the Kiwis secured a drawn set and the title.
Poulson was very consistent all day and celebrated her first skipping success in international competitions, against seven other nations China, Hong Kong China, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Japan, and hosts Singapore. The win will propel Poulson up the World Bowls Series rankings, provisionally placing the current NZ singles champion into a top 10 position. Walker should find herself in the top 100 for the first time.
It was oh so close for Men’s Pairs Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (WBS ranked 14) and partner Keanu Darby in their events. They were beaten in the semi-finals in both Pairs tournaments. In the Sets event it was by the eventual winners Elmer Abatayo and James Raz from the Philippines.
But it was Abatayo’s lucky last bowl of the tiebreak, deflecting off a wide bowl to cruelly rob the Kiwis of their place in the Sets final. Abatayo and Raz again beat Hong Kong China Lyndon Sham and Jason Chow in the Sets event at the host Tanglin Club, a repeat of the Ends event final.
Consolation for Bagrie-Howley should be a position in the WBS top 10 – a fine effort for the Tiger Moth aircraft engineer from Gore.
It was Hong Kong China that secured the overall team’s performance at the Lion City Cup, narrowly edging Malaysia and the Philippines. Elmer Abatayo was rightly judged Player of the Tournament with some superb shot play throughout the six days and as the only winner of both titles, a huge achievement for the Philippines.
Completing the fine performances by the New Zealand players was a silver medal earlier in the week for Olivia Mancer and Briar Atkinson in the Women’s Under 25 Ends tournament. In the Sets tournament they just missed out by a win on making the semi-final playoffs.
World Bowls Regional Director Oceania Brett O’Riley acknowledged the significance of this event for bowls in Asia, and the high standard of both organisation and play.
“The Bowls Singapore team have taken the Lion City Cup to a completely new level this week as a World Bowls Series ranking event. What has been particularly encouraging has been to see the number of youth players from across the region, many introduced to our game during the COVID pandemic”, said O’Riley.
He added, “Two youth players of only three seasons experience from the Philippines, James Raz and Angeleca Abatayo, are now Lion City champions, twice for James in the Men’s pairs. At the other end of the spectrum, we had 83 year old Mary Lim securing her first World Bowls Series ranking points, bowls truly is a game for all ages”.
The under 25 men’s event saw wins for Hong Kong China Quenton Ip and Nixon Man (Ends), and Singapore’s Harriman Yuen and Isaac Yu (Sets). Malaysia’s Nur Fitrah and Ain Nurnajwa won the under 25 women’s Ends event and it was Abbie Chan and Audrey Lai from Hong Kong China who prevailed in the Sets tournament.
Full results are available on the Bowls Singapore website
Article prepared by the New Zealand Team Manager and World Bowls Director Brett O’Riley.