Appleton/Pavlov seal Open berth
As Anderson and Gosley storm through singles Nathan Appleton and Christina Pavlov were soon setting the pace for Australian Open Qualifying as they romped through the Mixed pairs rounds undefeated, comprehensively beating the opposition on each occasion. Lucky enough to have a bye in the post sectional they took on the improving duo of Ann-Maree and Warren Peart in the final qualifying round. The Appleton/Pavlov partnership wasn’t about to ease off and beat the Pearts 16-9 to book their ticket to Melbourne.
Also in action at Tweed Heads were star duo Natasha Jones and Brett Wilkie, who also won their first three games but narrowly lost 12-11 to a strong Cassandra Millerick/Scott De Jongh pairing in the post sectional. This young partnership then beat Sue McKenzie and Cohen Litfin 11-8 to feature in next years Open.
The Australian Open will be held at the Darebin International Sports Centre in February 2014, and will feature Julie Keegan and Des Cann, who turned an early defeat around to march strongly forward. In their final game they beat an in-form Kurt and Emma Brown 15-11.
Carmen Anderson and Julie Keegan lived up to their billing as one of the toughest Women’s pairs on the green as they waltzed all the way to Melbourne undefeated.
The Millerick Twins also showed why they are a dangerous duo as they took their difficult section. Other winners were Karen Goldsworthy and Lynn Long, who comfortably won all three matches, and Sophie Young with Maria Rigby, with two wins and a bye also progressing. The only post sectional game saw Elizabeth McCleary and Evelyn Stacey lose 16-8 to Emma Brown and Noelene Dutton.
In the Men’s pairs Rohan Wilson and Nathan Rice played some outstanding bowls, taking three wins from three, who saw off Braidan Leese and Sam White in the post sectional. Dean McWhinney and Paul Girdler also went through undefeated despite an early scare, then beat Trevor Wright and Michael O’Leary in their final match. Geoff Jensen and John Fern go on to play in Melbourne, as do Ricky Melia/Jason Curry, Neil Peach/Wayne Masters, Bryce Litfin/Nic Gosley and Dean Merlo/Brett Merkel.
The Men’s Singles qualifying took place at Twin Towns, Tweed Heads and South Tweed with 17 places available. Young Nic Gosley was in terrific form, shining 21-10, 21-8 and 21-5 in his three games. Shane Greentree with three wins continued to impress, scoring 21-2, 21-18 and 21-7. Scott De Jongh backed up his mixed pairs qualification with singles progress, as did Des Cann. Here is the full list of qualifiers: G. Higgins, R. Wilson, P. Ellful, C. Litfin, Des Cann, S. Ingham, S. White, N. Gosley, T. Broadbent, J. Van Hout, J. Anderson, R. Melia, S. Greentree, R. Norquay, S. De Jongh, P. Vacaro, G. Pearson.
Also playing at multiple venues were the Women’s singles. Elizabeth McCleary, so unlucky in the women’s pairs, performed strongly, gaining qualification with a 100% record. Rising starlet Kiani Anderson also made the cut with some inspired bowls, 21-10, 21-15 and 21-9. As section winners, Christina Pavlov, Christine Baxter, Cassandra Millerick, Noelene Dutton, Selina Goddard, Faye Clarke, Helen Wood-Bradley and Debbie Farley will also be heading to the Open.
The strong foursome of D. McWhinney, D. Cann, B. Wilkie and K. Kerkow will be contesting bowls at Darebin come February as they made easy work of the rounds, they’ll be joined by equally strong D. McWhinney-Shillington, E. Farnsworth, N. Gosley and G. Shillington. Other qualifiers are N. Peach, G. Jensen, B. Merkel and W. Masters and B. Wilson, S. Bailey, J. Carpenter and R. Wilson.
The Women’s fours was a tough contest but the more competitive teams made it through. K. Andersen, S. Goddard, C. Pavlov and S. McKenzie went undefeated, while C. Lewis, G. Read, D. Logan and C. Baxter, A. Wilson, N. Jones, W. Wilson and P. Rowe, C. Millerick, L. Long, K. Goldsworthy, B. Millerick and D. Cooke, D. McGarry, D. Dimmick, G. Blank all go to Melbourne having qualified from this closely fought discipline.
