Leighton Shanks and Dayvinia Mills are the Kahutia Bowling Club men’s and women’s open singles champions.
Shanks defeated Willy Murray 21-10 in the men’s final.
Mills beat Karen Pinn 21-16 in the women’s decider.
Both champions were unbeaten throughout.
Ten players contested the men’s open - experienced exponentsJuly Hoepo, Shanks, Joe Wimutu, Murray, Ray Young, Andy Tamanui and Allan Parker, 15-year-old twins Kyle and Liam Pinn and first-year bowler William Cooper, competing in his first senior men’s singles club championship.
The men’s and women’s tournaments were played under the two-life system, with matches played to 21 shots or a time limit of one hour and 45 minutes.
In Round 1 of the men’s competition, Shanks defeated Tamanui 21-5, Hoepo defeated Murray 18-14, Wimutu defeated Parker 21–7, Kyle Pinn defeated Young 21–13 and Liam Pinn defeated Cooper 21–1.
In Round 2, Tamanui defeated Parker 19–10, Hoepo defeated Wimutu 21–13, Murray defeated Young 19–14, Shanks defeated Cooper 21–9 and Kyle Pinn defeated Liam Pinn 21–12.
In Round 3, Murray defeated Tamanui 21-3, Shanks defeated Hoepo 19-16 in a clash of the titans and Liam Pinn defeated Wimutu 21-14. Kyle Pinn had a bye.
In Round 4, Kyle Pinn won a thrilling match against Hoepo 20-18, while Murray defeated Liam Pinn 18-12. Shanks had a bye.
Kyle Pinn, Shanks and Murray faced off in closely contested singles games on the Sunday.
In Round 5, Shanks defeated Pinn 20–15. It was tight in the early ends, but Shanks built momentum through the middle stages, then maintained control to close out the match.
In the next round, Murray defeated Pinn 15-11. Neither player could build a decisive lead in the early stages, but Murray gradually gained the upper hand through consistent draw bowling. A three-shot end midway through the game gave him a decisive break.
Both players used the drive to good effect, and the game contained six killed ends.
In the potential final, two-lifer Shanks produced a strong performance to beat one-lifer Murray by 11 shots.
Shanks opened steadily, then applied pressure with several well-constructed heads. Through the middle portion of the game, he collected multiple two-shot ends, steadily building a commanding lead.
Murray picked up a few singles, but Shanks continued to control the head to eventually win 21-10.
Dayvinia Mills is the Kahutia Bowling Club women's open singles championship for 2026.
Four players contested the women’s open singles – Mills, Glenys Whiteman and junior players Karen Pinn and Sha Hohipa.
In Round 1, Mills had a comfortable victory over Pinn, but Hohipa’s 21-20 win against Glenys Whiteman over 23 ends was edge-of-the-seat stuff.
In Round 2, Hohipa led 8-7 early against Mills, who then found her rhythm and won five ends in a row for a 21-10 victory.
In the other game, Pinn repelled a Whiteman fightback from 7-1 down to win 17-16.
In Round 3, Pinn beat Hohipa 21-16.
In the potential final, two-lifer Mills started strongly against one-lifer Pinn and led by seven shots after six ends. Pinn won four ends in a row to level it 14-all.
After some close ends, Mills led 19-16 and she collected two shots on the final end for a 21-16 win.
