Bowls: International flavour to tournament

The best field to contest a women's bowls tournament in Tauranga will be in action at the excellent Tauranga South Bowling Club greens this weekend.

The inaugural Ladies Invitational Pairs tournament has attracted top class New Zealand bowlers plus Noumea's Olivia Bloomfield, Tokelau's Linda Pedro, Canada's Leanne Chinery, and two top Fijian bowlers Litias Tikoisuva and Dioreen O'Connor.

The Fijians were coached by Tauranga South's Judith Payne when she lived in the islands and it was her idea to host the tournament in Tauranga.

"Birkenhead in Auckland have a similar tournament and they suggested we try it out so I scheduled it in as I am match convener this year at the club and we went from there," said Payne. "We set a high criteria for the Bay of Plenty bowlers that they had to have won a centre title in the last two years and also to get a lot of international players here.

"We are thrilled with the quality of the field." Mary Campbell, who is one of the committee members who have been working on the tournament for nearly a year, says attracting ex-international players was important. "Sharon Sims, Raelene Castle and Patsy Jorgensen from Omanu are among the ex-New Zealand bowlers here and next time we would like to get current New Zealand bowlers if the timing is better," said Campbell.

"It has all come together nicely and Judith worked really, really hard. All we need now is some good weather."

Fijian star Tikoisuva is ranked in the top ten singles bowlers in the world and reached number two in 2005.

"We are privileged to be invited to the tournament by the Tauranga South club," she said.

"The challenge is getting used to the greens. Our greens are just normal grass and the fastest they run is about 12 seconds. Here is 17 to 18 seconds so a lot faster."