Bowls: Edwards wins rare double

Jo Edwards. Photo / Geoff Sloan

Jo Edwards (United Bowling Club, Nelson) added a World Singles Champion of Champions crown to her already successful bowling career after beating Scotland's Caroline Brown 11-5, 3-8, 4-1 in Hong Kong last night.

The Nelson bowler's new title comes on the back of another major milestone earlier this year when she took out the World Cup (Indoor) title for the third time.

"It's unprecedented to win a World Cup and a World Champ of Champs in the same year,'' New Zealand national bowls coach Dave Edwards said.

"It's an absolutely unbelievable achievement, and I told her that I'm not sure she's totally aware of what she's done.''

Edwards' response was "yeah, you're probably right. I'm not sure it's sunk in yet, but I'm really delighted.''

As Edwards' husband and her coach, Dave Edwards is perhaps more keenly aware of the significance of the win, as it also means New Zealand has won the event for the second year in a row.

Black Jack Jan Khan won the same title last year in Norfolk Island.

Beginning her campaign a week ago, Edwards rolled her way through the world's best female bowlers, only losing two matches in the entire event (to Hong Kong and Singapore), and into a semi-final battle with elite Guernsey bowler Alison Merrien - the same opponent she defeated in the World Cup.

Merrien proved to be a difficult challenge, but one that Edwards was more than ready to meet.

She defeated Guernsey 3-10, 8-7, 6-0, in Saturday's semi-final and then moved on confidently to address her Scottish rival in the finals; and once again prove that she really is the world's best female bowler.