KEY POINTS:
Another nail-biting comeback from New Zealand men's singles player Ali Forsyth this morning saw him through to the quarterfinals at the world bowls championship here.
Forsyth's win in the 10th round at the Burnside green means all four Black Jacks teams are through to the quarterfinals.
Down 9-18
in the 16th end against Papua New Guinea's Peter Juni, Forsyth fought back to even the score 18-18 after 21 ends. He grabbed a point on the next end to take the lead for the first time in the match, but Juni came back with a point of his own.
Tied at 19-19 in the 23rd end and with Juni holding shot, Forsyth used a runner to nudge the shot bowl out of the frame and take three for the win.
With three losses this round, Forsyth was rapt with the win that propelled him into the top four outright and means he doesn't have to worry about his points differential to make the sudden-death quarters.
"It's a huge relief," he said.
"There was a lot of pressure on that game. Basically the winner went through."
Forsyth said he "struggled a bit" with his draw shots this morning and Juni leapt out to 7-0 after the first three ends.
"It was a bit of a turnaround early on and he gained a lot of confidence from that and played pretty well," he said.
Down 18-9, Forsyth said he managed to run the jack into the ditch for just one "but it changed things".
When the wind changed he swapped hands.
"I managed to latch onto the hand and scrapped back into it," he said.
"It was pretty nail-biting stuff. I don't think I was ever in front until the score got to 21."
Black Jacks coach Dave Edwards said it was a "fantastic" comeback for Forsyth.
"I'm running out of heart pills."
Edwards said he was most impressed with Forsyth's composure under huge pressure.
"He re-gathered his composure and thought about things."
Edwards said Forsyth gained some confidence after switching hands "and really started to come home strong".
In other New Zealand games this morning, Gary Lawson brought his men's fours back from staring at defeat against a strong Malaysian combination, drawing three to win 20-18 on the last end.
Sharon Sims' women's triples grabbed the narrowest of wins against Ireland 16-15, but in the only loss for the Black Jacks this morning, Jo Edwards and Val Smith went down 17-12 to the strong Irish pair, Margaret Johnston and Bernie O'Neill.
- NZPA