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BOWLS
KAHUTIA players made the most of home-green advantage in the junior divisions of the champion of champions singles bowling tournament this month.
But Te Karaka made a clean sweep of the open competition, David File and Sarah Brown winning the men’s and women’s titles respectively.
Kahutia bowlers Murray Duncan and Lucy Shanks won the men’s and women’s divisions for those with up to eight years of bowls experience (under-8s).
Kahutia also provided the women’s winner of the division for those with up to three years of bowls experience (under-3s) — Diane Oates. Tolaga Bay’s Ben Elkington was the men’s winner.
Some of the bowling was top-notch.
File beat Jamey Ferris 17-16 in Round 1 and Jeff Davis 21-4 in Round 2, before losing to Vern Marshall (Tolaga Bay) 18-13. But on Day 2, File found form and defeated Marshall 21-5 and, in the final, 21-15.
This gave File his 79th Gisborne-East Coast centre title.
In the women’s open, Brown beat Tolaga Bay’s Sharon Olsen 21-18 in the final. The score see-sawed for much of the game, until Brown collected a two for the win.
In the men’s under-8s, Duncan beat Te Karaka’s Willie Murray 21-16 in the final. These two played each other three times. In the first round, Murray won 22-19; in the fourth round, Duncan won 16-15; and in the decider, Duncan won 21-16.
In the women’s under-8s, Shanks beat Te Karaka’s Diane Murray 21-6 in the final. Murray had taken a life off Shanks — 21-18 — in an earlier round.
Elkington defeated Gisborne’s Bruce Gledhill 21-15 in the final of the men’s under-3s. Gledhill had earlier beaten Elkington 21-9.
In the women’s under-3s, Oates gave her younger opponent 60 years but got the two wins she required, beating Angela Gibson-Sam 17-15 and then, in the final, 21-15. Oates was unbeaten in the tournament.
Teenager Gibson-Sam had two wins against the Wairoa champion, 21-16 and 21-7, and is a first-year player with a future.
The Kahutia club members presented their facilities in top condition, and the incentive (chocolates) to get markers did not go unnoticed. Well done, markers.
Kahutia wins the junior men's division and Gisborne wins the junior women's titleGisborne hosted the champion of champions fours, but Kahutia and Poverty Bay won the open men’s and women’s competitions respectively.
Kahutia also won the junior men’s division, while Gisborne won the junior women’s title.
Kahutia’s open men went through unbeaten. They started with a 13-8 victory over Gisborne, then disposed of Tolaga Bay before getting a bye into the final, where they beat Poverty Bay 22-5.
Skip Charlie Ure showed good leadership qualities, while Murray Murton, Ruwhiu Ropata and Harry Green responded magnificently. This was a really good team effort.
Poverty Bay exceeded their expectations as they defeated Vern Marshall’s Tolaga Bay to reach the final.
In the women’s division, Poverty Bay excelled. They defeated Tolaga Bay and Wairoa, had a bye and then defeated Gisborne 19-10 in the final.
Congratulations to Ora Peipi (skip), Jan Powell, Marion Jones and Val McGreevy.
Kahutia won the junior men’s division. They defeated Tolaga Bay 13-12 and Poverty Bay 15-12, then lost to Gisborne 24-5. It was a different story in the final, Kahutia beating Gisborne 12-11.
The winners were Joe Wimutu, Alan Parker, Frank McLoughlin and Ray Young.
In the junior women’s final, the Gisborne team of Kay Goldsbury (skip), Ginny Sherriff, Kym Brown and Beverly Davy beat Poverty Bay 20-8. They had lost to Poverty Bay 18-6 in Round 2 and then beaten them 20-14 in Round 3.