Disability champs crowned at Aspley
State and national reps among the big winners at Multi-Disability Championships Queensland’s 2013 Multi-Disability Championships came to a thrilling climax this afternoon, with some of the nation’s top disability bowlers capturing medals at Brisbane’s Aspley Bowls Club.
There were plenty of familiar faces on the winners’ podium, with Nathan Appleton, Kaye Freeman, Marian Morrison and Tony Bonnell just a few of the state and national reps to strike gold in Aspley.
Bonnell, who has just recently returned for representing Australia at the Eight Nations event in Scotland, was the star performer in the Sporting Wheelies category.
The 45-year-old Pine Rivers bowler beat Warren Fraser in the singles final, 9-4, 3-11, 0–7, before partnering Clive Williams to pairs gold with an 11-3, 10–4 victory over Bernie Wolland and William Green in the title decider.
“This is a fantastic event,” Bonnell said after his win. “It’s a pleasure to play with all of these great bowlers and I have enjoyed the company of every person here.”
Sylvia Hiltunen took out the women’s singles title with a tiebreak win over Kaytlyn Smith, 8-3, 1-15, 4-1.
In the Lifestream category Nathan Appleton continued his fantastic form with gold medal wins in the singles and pairs.
The 21-year-old Dalby bowler beat Alan Duffy for the singles crown, 17-0, 13-1, before skipping Samantha O’Dea to the pairs title with a tiebreak win over Duffy and Phil Siggers, 1-10, 10-7, 4-3.
Appleton thanked O’Dea following their pairs win. “We did it, we won,” he said, “even though we were playing against two men.”
Cleveland’s Kaye Freeman continued her dominance in the Lifestream women’s singles, beating Samantha O’Dea to the gold medal in straight sets, 10-4, 8-6.
Barry Lynne was also a dual medal winner in the Deaf Bowlers category.
Lynne beat Ken Read for the singles crown, 9-5, 13-8. He then partnered Barry Knapton to victory in the pairs decider, taking a narrow tiebreak win over Diana Reddick and Barry Greentree, 9-4, 5-9, 4-3.
Reddick wasn’t left empty-handed however, overcoming Gail Dellar in the women’s singles final, 11-4, 9-13, 4-3.
Once again the blind bowlers played a round robin style competition over four different categories, with winners decided by points rather than knock out.
The 2013 Blind Bowlers champions were:
B1 Open Singles – Bryan Forster
B2/B3 Men’s Singles – Jake Fehlberg Ladies Singles – Lynne Seymour
B4 Men’s Singles – Earle Gray
Open Triples – Wayne McDonald, Brandon Smith, Marian Morrison
