Indoor bowls: Tauranga club wins nationals

Tauranga's Paul Smith was part of the Tauranga team that won the Open Fours titles at the nationals held in Ashburton. Photo / File

Grant L'Ami, Paul Smith, Mike Phipps and Lorraine Phipps from Tauranga's South City Club won the Open Fours at the 69th Summerset National Indoor Bowls Championships at the EA Networks Centre in Ashburton on Saturday.

They defeated Gary Low, Graham Low, Warwick Gray and Jan Low, Grasmere Southland in the Open Fours final 9-7 in a very close and exciting final.

To reach the final L'Ami defeated Teri Anderson, Alex Reed, Colin Williams and Matthew Farquhar from the Te Atatu Club, Auckland 14-5. It was his 13th title, a record for indoor bowls, and Mike Phipps' 11th, Paul Smith's second and Lorraine Phipps' fourth title wins.

Ton Kaan, Bryan Sobey, Bev Sobey and Georgina Black (Greenhithe Club, North Harbour) defeated Carl Jamieson, Terry Moffat, Marilyn Irvine and Jenny Hamilton (Club Mount Maunganui) in the Masters Fours final 14-6.

The Robertson Cup for the Player of the Open Tournament was won by L'Ami from Tauranga while the Rayner Trophy for the Player of the Masters Tournament was won by Mark Sheard from Ashburton MSA, who won both the Singles and Triples Masters Titles and was third in the Masters Pairs. Sheard dedicated his win to his late mother.

The Patron's Cup was won by Ashburton.

Meanwhile, two new caps have been named in the North Island Indoor Bowls team and three players have been recalled, while the South Island team has three new caps and has recalled five very experienced players.

This has been partly caused by the ineligibility of the New Zealand team players that won the ECBA World Cup in the United Kingdom recently and the return of the Mat Blacks that played against Australia last year has meant some players have missed out.

The teams were announced at the 69th Summerset National Indoor Bowls Championships to compete in the 38th annual inter-island match for the Kevin Eddy Memorial Trophy at the Ashburton Indoor Bowls Stadium, McNally St, Ashburton on August 11.

The North Island commences the tour of the South Island on August 3 with nine tour matches and culminates with the Inter-Island match.

The new caps for the touring North Island team are Joy Archer from Waikato and Robin Porter from Bay of Plenty.

Those recalled to the North are Fiona Keegan (Tauranga), Shelley Jacombs (Hutt Valley), who won the National Championship Open Pairs last Tuesday, Sharon Peters (North Harbour) and Jason Parker (Counties).