South African bowls tops in Africa
2 October 2007
Last week, in Windhoek, Namibia, the South African Proteas proved themselves, once again, to be the powerhouses of bowls on the African continent when they dominated the African States Bowls Championships to claim the title of African champions.
In both the men's and women's competitions, South Africa won the overall titles, winning six out of eight possible gold medals, as well as two bronze medals.
Gold medal winners
Gold medal winners were the men's fours (Billy Radloff, Wayne Perry, Handré Marais and Clinton Roets), the men's Pairs (Billy Radloff and Wayne Perry), and Brian Dixon, who won the men's singles in convincing fashion.
The women Proteas won gold in the fours (Lorna Trigwell, Cheryl Cox, Loraine Victor and Sylvia Burns), the trips (Lorna Trigwell, Loraine Victor and Sylvia Burns) and singles, thanks to Colleen Webb.
Bronze medals went to the men's trips (Brian Dixon, Handré Marais and
Clinton Roets) and the women's pairs (Cheryl Cox and Colleen Webb), after both combinatons suffered two narrow defeats on the opening day of competition; the men fell 16-18 to Zimbabwe and 17-22 to Namibia 17-22, while the women went down 15-17 to Zimbabwe and 15-18 to Swaziland.
Although both the teams came back strongly to win the rest of their matches convincingly, they had to settle for bronze medals.
Singles' stars
The South African singles players, Brian Dixon and Colleen Webb, both impressed with their determination and consistent high standard of play, thus putting their opponents under constant pressure.
Particularly in their last games against the very determined players of Zambia, both had to fight back after trailing in the early stages of their games. Brian Dixon was 9-19 down and came back to win the game 21-19. Colleen Webb was 6-13 down, but eventually won 21-17.
The countries that participated were South
Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The next African States Tournament will be hosted by Zimbabwe in 2008.
Pleasing performances
Piet Breitenbach, President of Bowls South Africa, was pleased with the performance of the South African teams, commenting that the teams are well balanced and that the combinations are working.
With the forthcoming World Bowls in New Zealand in mind, he was cautiously optimistic saying that the preparation of the teams is on course and with hard work, dedication, and the total commitment of the players, South Africa could well become the world champions at World Bowls in 2008.
The players depart for New Zealand shortly to play a test series against the home side from 9-12 October. This is seen as an important part of the preparation for World Bowls and will give the players an opportunity to play on the fast greens in New Zealand.
In November, the Namibian
World Bowls team will visit Cape Town to play South Africa in a two-test series.
SAinfo reporter
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