State Multi-Disability wraps up
Top bowlers reach new heights in Mackay
Today (September, 6) saw the final game being played at the Queensland Multi-Disability Championships.
As the season shifted to spring the heat was turned up both outside and on the green at South Suburban Bowls Club Mackay and Mackay City Bowls. The Multi-Disability Championships made its way to Central Queensland for the first time this year as the state’s top disability bowlers gathered to play from September, 3-6.
Blind Bowlers
Men
The audience for this final was anticipating a close game after only a single point separated Fred Tarry and Jake Fehlberg in their round 4 match up. The game ended up going in the other direction and it was a master-class effort by Comm Games hero Fehlberg, who showed skill any bowler would envy. Opening with two touchers back-to-back was an omen for what was to come for the man affectionately known as “Magoo”. Over the next five ends he secured a 12-0 lead before Tarry was able to capture one point to get on the board. The second half of the match saw Tarry attempt to stage a fight back, but Fehlberg’s strong start was insurmountable. After 10 ends Jake was the winner of the Multibowl’s Vision-impaired Gold medal, winning 21-6. The Bronze medal final saw current Australian Open Vision-Impaired Pairs champion Brandon Smith play against Chris Backstrom, a talented champion and Commonwealth bowler himself. A close game, Backstrom ended up winning the bronze beating Smith 16-14.
Women
With just four women participating in the Vision-impaired singles, the competitors got to know each other’s games well over the tournament. The final featured Helen Boardman against June Brittan. The two played each other in the second round with Boardman handing Brittan her only loss of the sectional round winning 20-12. Going into the Gold Medal match both women were coming off the back of close games, Boardman losing hers by 3 and Brittan winning by 2. Both had an edge coming into the match with Boardman having already won against Brittan previously. Though in this match momentum proved to be on June Brittan’s side as she took the game easily winning 21-6. The Bronze medal match had a similar story with Christine Henry beating Vanessa Hinton 2-13.
Open Pairs
The winning combo of June Brittain and Jake Fehlberg took on Brandon Smith and Fred Tarry to finish as victors 16-9. While Helen Boardman and Christine Henry bested Vanessa Hinton and Don Dias in the playoff for bronze.
Sporting Wheelies
Men’s singles
In the men’s singles competition overall victory was claimed by Cooper Whitestyles who trumped Tony Bonnell 21-14, while in bronze match Brett Sellars beat Damien Delgado 20-16.
Women’s singles
In the women’s singles gold playoff Kaytlyn Smith had a 21-16 win over Deb McGarry, while the bronze medal game saw Annette Goldsworthy beat Serena Bonnell 21-12.
Open Pairs
The Wheelies Open Pairs saw two evenly matched teams come head to head. After Five rounds the pairs of Cooper Whitestyles & Kate Smith and Richard Rombouts and Damien Delgado both had won all their matches with an exact same margin of +35. The Match proved entertaining as expected; as the teams employed multiple tactics to try and gain the lead. Whitestyles and Smith held the lead 15-8 after twelve-ends with the game still open for Delgado and Romabout to steal a win. With just three ends left, they scored enough close the lead to five. But it wasn’t enough as Whitestyles and Smith picked up another three shots in the final end to win 15-8 and take home the Gold. In the match played for third place Serena & Tony Bonnell beat their opponents Tony Watson and John Green 14-7.
Life Stream
Open Singles
There were two undefeated players who made their way into the Life Stream Gold Medal match; Danial Walker and Glen Holmes were just about even on the day with a margin of +1 separating them. Walker led for most of the game, but Holmes was always within striking distance. With four bowls played per end Holmes was able to keep the lead to just 3 as the pair traded shots end to end, with score eventually settling on 15-12 as the game closed. Walker then shifted to another gear as he extended the lead by another two shots before completing his victory to win 21-14. Meanwhile in the Bronze match it was Darren Davis against Carla Pizzi. Coming off a strong win to finish off her sectional rounds, Pizzi seemed to be running down hill and ready to take the medal home, however, she was out maneuvered by Davis in the end this time who won 21-3.
Open Pairs
In the open pairs Darryl Bridges and his partner in crime Danial Walker bested seasoned multi-dis veteran Krystie Ebert and Glen Holmes 20-9, while John Stuart and Alan Duffy played off in the bronze medal game against Samantha O’Dea and Darren Davis winning 29-2.
Hard of Hearing
Open Singles
If possible it would’ve been a three player race for Gold with Russell Jackson, Gordon Heselwood and Barry Lynne winning all but one of their sectional games. But alas only two can face off and it was Russell versus Gordon playing to see who would take the crown. A close game to start, Jackson began asserting himself as he took a 13-8 lead. Heselwood attempted to close the gap but could only find one point at a time as the ends played on. In the end, Jackson proved too much this time, and won 21-13. In the Bronze medal game, an eight shot lead created by Lynne over Brian Taylor made a difficult road for Taylor travel down for the win. He managed to close the lead to six before Lynne captured 3 shots in the final end to win 21-12.
Open Pairs
In the pairs Gordon Heselwood and Barry Lynne claimed gold, while Alan Summerville and Russell Jackson collected a silver medal for their efforts with bronze going to Stuart Orr and Brian Taylor.
There will be a full wrap-up in the next edition of the Bowler magazine.
See the replay of the live videos here>>
