Jan Khan, one of New Zealand's best bowlers, eliminated Natasha Van Eldick in the third round of the New Zealand Open women's singles at Henderson yesterday, but only after the Australian teenager had provided the tournament with its main drama.
Van Eldick, 19 on Friday, produced an astonishing second round
recovery to down another Sydney-sider, Maria Rigby, 21-19, having pegged back a deficit of 18-2.
While she had not totally despaired, Van Eldick admitted afterwards that she had reached a stage where defeat had seemed inevitable.
"Considering the lady I was playing has represented Australia and won a Commonwealth Games gold medal, it certainly wasn't looking too good," she said. "It was a matter of loosening up a little and trying not to make an absolute fool of myself."
Part of the NSW Institute of Sport's bowls programme, Van Eldick illustrates the big investment Australia makes in young sporting talent.
She describes herself as almost a fulltime bowler and a part-time childcare worker. Rigby was her second major scalp of the tournament, after beating former NZ international Patsy Jorgensen in the first round. But her run ended decisively against a confident Khan.
The big upset in the women's singles came with the ousting of world champion Australian Karen Murphy, who lost to another Australian, Anne Johns.
Khan, the 2007 champion, Australian Sharyn Renshaw and Murphy's pairs partner, Kay Moran, all entered the semifinals in the late afternoon quarter-finals.
The opening rounds of the men's pairs brought little success for national squad members Richard Girvan, Andrew Todd, Ali Forsyth and Mark Watt.
Shayne Sincock and his West Coast partner Lance Pascoe beat Todd and Girvan 15-10 and Gary Lawson and his young Canterbury lead Nick Buttar beat Forsyth and Watt with a comeback to rival that of Van Eldick.
Trailing 13-6 after 11 of the 15 ends, Lawson and Buttar picked up nine shots in the last five ends.
A major upset in the pairs was the win by Joe Whitelaw and Tusi Tumua, from Auckland's Mt Richmond club, over Australians Lee Schraner and Gerard Beath.
