Canada withstood determined challenges from England, Australia and Malta to strike Gold at the III Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship in Melbourne today. The victory was sweet after Gold had eluded Canada several times at the previous Championship in Cyprus. Today’s Mixed Teams event was bowled on dual lane conditions – the first three games on Short Oil and the final three on Long Oil.
All four Canadian bowlers posted clean games in the sixth to notch up an impressive 878 and a total pinfall of 4969 for the series. The Australian bowlers overcame a wobbly second game and finished strongly to take Silver on 4852, while a disappointing final game for Malta enabled England to slip past them by just 39 pins to bag the Bronze.
Dual-Gold medallist Fiona Banks from England took the Women’s High Game honours today with a 276 to set a new 1-game Teams record, previously held by Donna Adams, while Canadian George Lambert’s 278 eclipsed the 269 record set by Jason Belmonte in Scotland in 2002. Nick Froggatt’s 6-game benchmark of 1410 and the women’s record of 1379 held by Shalin Zulkifli, both set in Scotland in 2002, remain unassailed.
The field of bowlers is now cut to the top 12 men and women for a round-robin format Masters final over 12 games, followed by a stepladder final. Play will commence with the first six games in the Men’s division, on Short Oil, at 9am tomorrow (Friday).
In line with Commonwealth Games Federation guidelines, trophies rather than medals will be awarded to the top placegetters in Men’s and Women’s All Events. Top seed in the Men’s division is Dominic Barrett from England on 5170, and Ann Maree Putney from Australia topped the Women’s division on 5011.
Bowlers from nine of the 16 countries represented at the III Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship will figure in the Masters line-up, with Canada’s Jennifer Willis-Park earning the distinction of being the only bowler not to miss a single pin when sparing from 73 frames in the 24 games bowled to date.
“Like Australia and England, we have a strong team and I really thought we would medal in the Teams,” said Canada’s National Coach, Lucien Casagrande following this evening’s medal presentation ceremony. “What made the difference today is that everyone really worked together, and also had some fun … everyone of them had an absolutely great shot and they worked together” he explained. “My goal was for the whole team to win a medal and for each bowler to make the Masters … luckily enough, we’ve done just that,” he added.
For Team England, today’s success brings its medal tally to three Gold and two Bronze, a huge step forward from their disappointing outing in Cyprus at the II Commonwealth Championship. “We have been doing a lot of work at home to prepare for the dual lane conditions – the two pattern format can be very demanding and, apart from availability, the team that was chosen showed the most aptitude for this challenge” explained veteran Team England Coach, Chris Buck.
Full details of the III Commonwealth Championship, including today’s full team line-up and Masters qualifiers, detailed scores and statistics for each participant and an extensive Photo gallery can be viewed on the Championship’s official website - www.2006ctbc.com.
All four Canadian bowlers posted clean games in the sixth to notch up an impressive 878 and a total pinfall of 4969 for the series. The Australian bowlers overcame a wobbly second game and finished strongly to take Silver on 4852, while a disappointing final game for Malta enabled England to slip past them by just 39 pins to bag the Bronze.
Dual-Gold medallist Fiona Banks from England took the Women’s High Game honours today with a 276 to set a new 1-game Teams record, previously held by Donna Adams, while Canadian George Lambert’s 278 eclipsed the 269 record set by Jason Belmonte in Scotland in 2002. Nick Froggatt’s 6-game benchmark of 1410 and the women’s record of 1379 held by Shalin Zulkifli, both set in Scotland in 2002, remain unassailed.
The field of bowlers is now cut to the top 12 men and women for a round-robin format Masters final over 12 games, followed by a stepladder final. Play will commence with the first six games in the Men’s division, on Short Oil, at 9am tomorrow (Friday).
In line with Commonwealth Games Federation guidelines, trophies rather than medals will be awarded to the top placegetters in Men’s and Women’s All Events. Top seed in the Men’s division is Dominic Barrett from England on 5170, and Ann Maree Putney from Australia topped the Women’s division on 5011.
Bowlers from nine of the 16 countries represented at the III Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship will figure in the Masters line-up, with Canada’s Jennifer Willis-Park earning the distinction of being the only bowler not to miss a single pin when sparing from 73 frames in the 24 games bowled to date.
“Like Australia and England, we have a strong team and I really thought we would medal in the Teams,” said Canada’s National Coach, Lucien Casagrande following this evening’s medal presentation ceremony. “What made the difference today is that everyone really worked together, and also had some fun … everyone of them had an absolutely great shot and they worked together” he explained. “My goal was for the whole team to win a medal and for each bowler to make the Masters … luckily enough, we’ve done just that,” he added.
For Team England, today’s success brings its medal tally to three Gold and two Bronze, a huge step forward from their disappointing outing in Cyprus at the II Commonwealth Championship. “We have been doing a lot of work at home to prepare for the dual lane conditions – the two pattern format can be very demanding and, apart from availability, the team that was chosen showed the most aptitude for this challenge” explained veteran Team England Coach, Chris Buck.
Full details of the III Commonwealth Championship, including today’s full team line-up and Masters qualifiers, detailed scores and statistics for each participant and an extensive Photo gallery can be viewed on the Championship’s official website - www.2006ctbc.com.
