Trowell and Keelan national school champs

SECONDARY SCHOOL PAIRS CHAMPIONS: Akuhata Keelan (left) and Nathan Trowell, of Gisborne Boys’ High School, yesterday won the pairs gold medals at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Indoor Bowls Championships. File picture by Liam Clayton

INDOOR BOWLS

GISBORNE Boys’ High School students Nathan Trowell and Akuhata Keelan won the gold medals in the pairs at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Indoor Bowls Championships yesterday.

They defeated Whakatane High School’s Damon Forster and Bailey Irwin 18-3 in the final at the North Wellington Indoor Bowls Hall, Onepoto, Titahi Bay, North Wellington.

Just over a week earlier, 15-year-old Trowell and his cousin Matthew Foster won the inaugural development pairs tournament for players with one to five years of indoor bowls experience.

In July, 15-year-old Keelan won his first Poverty Bay-East Coast Centre indoor bowls title as a member of the team who won the Tom Duffin Fours. His teammates on that occasion were Lois Lamont, Trowell and David Lynn.

Keelan started playing indoor bowls at the age of 11; Trowell started at 10.

In yesterday’s final, Trowell and Keelan defeated the pair — Forster and Irwin — who had won the North Island secondary schools pairs gold medals.

In the semifinals, Trowell and Keelan beat another Whakatane High School pair, Dylan Greyvenstein and Vincent Beard, 16-2. Greyvenstein was named the player of the tournament.

Forster and Irwin beat Feilding High School’s Blair Gowan and AJ Bond 16-6 in the other semifinal.

In the playoff to decide the bronze medal winners, Greyvenstein and Beard — silver medallists last year — beat the Feilding pair 14-4.

The plate event was won by Matthew Adlam and Michael Burke, of Mt Maunganui College.