Heartbreak Kid
Another gold slips away, as Gosley suffers second heart-breaking one-shot loss in Darwin It’s been a difficult day on the green for Queensland ace Nic Gosley.
While 90 per cent of the players at this year’s Australian Under-18 Championships will envy the 16-year-old Wynnum Manly star his double silver, Gosley himself is still grappling with what could have been, after dropping two gold medal matches by just one shot.
“I’m pretty devastated to be honest,” Gosley said.
“To get into two gold medal matches and lose them both by just one shot is pretty hard to take. The first loss this morning in the pairs was bad enough, but I was really gutted after the singles.”
Gosley got off to a rocky start in his blue ribbon singles clash with Victoria’s Jay Bye-Norris and trailed for most of the match.
But he never gave up, playing some perfect drives and conversion shots to keep himself in the game.
His persistence paid off, with Gosley finally leveling the score at the last minute, 20-20.
But it wasn’t to be, with Norris playing a superb last bowl to get shot and seal the victory, 21-20.
“I’m sure I’ll look back on it in a couple of days and be happy to have two silver medals, but at the minute it’s a bit frustrating not to have a gold,” Gosley said.
“Overall the team did great, we made six gold play-offs, which was a huge achievement, and most of the team are going home with two medals, plus we won the overall title, so it was a pretty good championships.”
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Gosley either. His disappointment at missing out on gold was eased by his inclusion in the Australian junior squad.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting it, so that was a good end to the championships for me. I’ll have to put in some hard work now and get working on my drills so hopefully I can make the team for the Trans-Tasman next year,” Gosley said.
Gosley’s teammate, Connie-Leigh Rixon, was also named in the Australian squad.
Caption: Nic Gosley shows off his singles silver. Picture courtesy of Bowls Australia