Bowls: Young guns bowl their way into semis

Monte Pawa. Photo / Supplied

Monte Pawa, an 18-year-old from Kaitaia, starred in the New Zealand Open bowls tournament at Henderson yesterday by cruising into tomorrow's singles semifinals with sublime displays of deft drawing and, when it was needed, accurate power.

To make the final four Pawa beat former national champion Petar Sain, then crushed North Harbour's capable Shane Gibson, a runner-up in the open pairs last year who at the weekend had eliminated last year's singles winner, Raika Gregory.

But Gibson failed to reach double figures against a remorseless Pawa.

In another illustration of bowls' gradual quest for a more youthful image, Auckland 21-year-old Scott Evans also entered tomorrow's semifinals, gaining a major scalp in Black Jack Ali Forsyth.

Tomorrow Pawa will face the surviving male Black Jack, Tony Grantham, and Evans the experienced Howick bowler Neil Fisher.

Grantham and Fisher between them have a host of national and centre titles and their current form suggests they will be the semifinal favourites, but it has been an impressive effort by Pawa and Evans to have gone so far.

Both are just sixth-year players, having emerged from the recent concentration on youth programmes. One year out of Kaitaia College, Pawa has been runner-up twice in national age events while Evans won the Kittyhawks national tournament two years ago and is now in the northern regional development squad.

An obvious talent like Pawa might be a target for one of the giant clubs in the north, but he said yesterday that he was content to stay in the Far North.

Pawa later teamed with his dad, Monte Pawa snr, who introduced him to bowls as a 6-year-old, in a notable pairs win. The pairs featured quick departures for Forsyth and Grantham and last year's champions, Neville Hill and Mike Bradshaw, to two other veterans, Wally Marsic and Tony Garelja.

Upsets also occurred in the women's singles, where Black Jack Mandy Boyd lost in the semis to Wellington's Kareen Guilford, who will face Jan Khan in Friday's final.