Indoor bowls news

PAIRS VICTORS: Lois Lamont holds the indoor bowls centre mixed pairs trophy, and David Lynn holds the centre open pairs trophy. By winning the centre mixed pairs, Lamont and Lynn qualified for the zone final in Whakatane, which they won to qualify for the national final in Upper Hutt in September. Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

David Lynn and Lois Lamont won the zone final of the New Zealand mixed pairs event in Whakatane.

Lynn and Lamont were unstoppable and got better as the day went on. In a round-robin competition against Bay of Plenty, Thames Valley, Waikato and Tauranga they defeated Bay of Plenty’s Simon Hatcher and Shanna Riley 9-7 in Game 1, then got out to a 5-0 lead against Waikato, with both Lamont and Lynn playing some great bowls to win the game.

Lynn and Lamont knew if they won Game 3, they would win the zone playoff outright. They were up against four-time national champion Kevin Boothby and his wife Gail, from Thames Valley.

Lynn and Lamont got out to an 8-0 lead after just three ends. From then on, the Poverty Bay pair kept their cool and won the game 14-5.

This means Lynn and Lamont will travel to Upper Hutt in September to play in the New Zealand mixed pairs final against seven other teams who won their zone finals.

This was great for Lynn, a New Zealand executive committee member who, at the national annual general meeting three years ago, asked that a New Zealand mixed pairs event be added to the indoor bowls calendar.

All centres supported his request and all now take part in the event.

Lynn and Lamont then came back to Gisborne and won the Pacific Haulage Centre Open Pairs final 7-6 against Bryan Pulley and young Mathew Foster.

In the nine-end final, Pulley got off to a good start to be 4-2 up after five ends, but by End 7 the score was 4-4.

Two points to Pulley on End 8 meant he was 6-4 up going into the last end.

One shot down on the last end, Lynn played a great run shot to take Pulley’s shot bowl away, leaving Lynn and Lamont holding three shots.

Pulley’s last bowl was too short, and the pairs shook hands.

This gave Lamont her 58th centre title, and Lynn his 135th.

Lynn and Lamont defeated Arnold Hutchins and John Harvey 13-3 in one semifinal, while Pulley and Foster defeated Royden Owen and Sara Lamont 7-5 in the other.