Bowls: Blackjacks guaranteed three more medals

Shannon McIlroy during the World Bowls Series. Photo / Getty Images

The Blackjacks are guaranteed at least three more bronze medals at the World Bowls Championships in Christchurch.

The New Zealand team collected four bronze medals in the opening week of the tournament and will scrap for medals in three of the four disciplines with only the inexperienced women's triples failing to advance past section play.

The men's fours have gone to the semifinals as top qualifiers after defeating South Africa 36-4, Scotland 23-17 and Wales 14-13 on Thursday. The New Zealand team of Mike Nagy, Mike Kernaghan, Blake Signal and Ali Forsyth found themselves 15-8 down to Scotland but then scored a six on one end and never looked back. They will meet the winner Scotland and England, who play Friday morning.

Singles player Shannon Mcllroy enjoyed wins over Wales' Jonathan Tomlinson and Mohamad Fairus Abd Jabal from Malaysia while a 21-14 victory over Ireland's Gary Kelly means McIlroy will progress to the semifinals on Friday. He will face the winner of Tomlinson and Australia's Aron Sherriff.

The women's pair of Jo Edwards and Angela Boyd enjoyed wins over Namibia, Israel and England and will head through to the semifinals in top spot in their section. They will face the winner of the impressive Australian pairing of Karen Murphy and Kelsey Cottrell and English duo Sophie Tolchard and Ellen Falkner.

The women's triples of Katelyn Inch, Kirsten Edwards and Val Smith had a good day Thursday with wins over the Philippines, Norfolk Island and Spain but that wasn't enough to advance to post section play with other results not falling their way.
Instead they finish in fourth place.

For Smith, who brought up her 500th match for New Zealand during the tournament, the result will be disappointing but both Inch and Edwards are young players and the experience will invaluable.

The Blackjacks found themselves in similar spot in the first week of the tournament with all four disciplines progressing out of their section but they were unable to convert any guaranteed bronze medals into gold or silver.

The focus for the side on Friday will to be improving the colour of those medals.