Bowls: Defunct club still bowling em over

The Napier Cosmopolitan Club became history last September but its indoor bowls members are keeping the flame alive.

The team of skip Rod Fleming, lead Bevan Lumsden and Sue Fleming yesterday won the triples title of the Napier Indoor Bowls Association's annual Easter Tournament.

"My wife [Sue] and I are the oldies in this game," Rod Fleming said after they beat skip Grant L'Ami, and husband-and-wife pair of Mike and Lorraine Phipps 9-7 in the final.

"We beat a team which has the hottest player in the country, Grant L'Ami," said Fleming of the tournament MVP from Taranaki who won the pairs title with Phipps on Sunday, beating Keith Setter and Geoff Caughey (both of Tauranga) 8-5 in the final.

The New Zealand representative was also in the mix of the fours title winners on Saturday.

Having played the sport for almost 18 years, Fleming went on to represent his country in the 1980-90s.

Wife Sue has two national mixed fours titles and retired from North Island level last year.

Bay rep Lumsden, in his thirties, has been rolling out the mat for 15 years for myriad titles.

The father of two was going to skip in the triples but Fleming decided it was better for him to focus as lead although Lumsden did give him "the evils".

Fleming said he and wife Sue would have carried on playing outdoor bowls, too, but due to work commitments the indoor version appealed.

"We'd love to start again but we're both 66 years old.

"Both Sue and I are very competitive so we don't just go to make up the numbers."

He said indoor bowls was a game of millimetres, not a metre as its outdoor cousin champions.