By TERRY MADDAFORD
The little man was sitting on Ivan Kostanich's shoulder as he came from behind to beat Dunedin's Mark Cowan in a nerve-racking first final at the pro bowls playoffs at the Frankton Railway indoor complex.
Kostanich, 83, did it the hard way, winning both his semifinal against Johnsonville's Bruce
Henderson and the final in tiebreakers.
The oldest player of the 1000 members worldwide of the Professional Bowls Association, Kostanich dropped the first set against Henderson 3-9 but kept his hopes of a trip to the finals in Llanelli, Wales, alive with a 5-4 win in the second.
The first two ends of the tiebreaker were shared before Kostanich struck on the deciding third end.
"I put my bowls all around the jack on the third end," said Kostanich later. "I didn't give him a show."
The final was just as tense right down to the last bowl, when Kostanich, one down, ran at the shot bowl, got a wick off a front bowl and ran the jack into the ditch with his own toucher to win and book his trip to the rich February finals, where he will face 31 world-class opponents.
In other first-day action, Tokoroa's Kevin Robinson and Neville Risbridge, now playing at Frankton Railway, also came from a set down and needed to win the tiebreaker to beat Richard Corry and Steve Posa and win a trip to the world indoor pairs in England.
Risbridge carried that good form over to yesterday's playoff for a spot in the world indoor singles.
In a tight match in which he dropped the first set by an amazing 11 shots, Risbridge bounced back to win the second 10-6 and then take the tiebreaker two ends to one.
Risbridge will now join Dunedin's Ken Walker as New Zealand's representatives at the world final in January.
Robinson had already secured a spot in the big time. He will join Rowan Brassey in Decembers International Singles in Britain in November.
Justin Goodwin (Takapuna) needed tiebreakers to win all four matches in the Players Championship.
The final produced some of the best bowls of the weekend, with Goodwin eventually getting home against Cowan 2-0 in the tiebreaker after winning the first set but dropping the second.
