2023 Australian Open – Day 10 wrap
It was a monumental day of bowls at the 2023 Australian Open as men’s pairs, women’s fours and para disciplines took centre stage across the city of Gold Coast.
The men’s pairs concluded at the round of 16 stage with defending champions Ben Twist and Aaron Wilson securing their place with a last gasp effort to overcome Joel Di Ianni and Simon Barton by a solitary shot after the 18th end, having not led for the entirety of the contest.
At the same time that Wilson sealed the victory, Josh Barry simultaneously achieved the exact same feat as he and his teammate Tony Bonnell progressed through against David Prior and Tim Hickey after only being in front after three completed ends.
Nathan Black and 2016 pairs champion Nathan Pedersen enjoyed a brilliant afternoon and capped it off with a 26-13 win over Paul Rooke and Carl Healey in the final matchup of the day.
Right at Home Jackaroo duo of Aaron Teys and Aaron Sherriff have booked passage after a brilliant day at Burleigh Heads, as has Jesse Noronha and his teammate Matt Miles.
Para Jackaroo James Reynolds and his partner Flynn O’Shaughnessy have made their way through, as have Scott de Jongh and Nick Cahill.
2022 finalists in Ben Winther and Brett Spurr guaranteed their place among tomorrow’s combatants, while Sean Ingham and Sean Baker joined them after accounting for Jarryd Davies and Blake Nairn.
The biggest shocks of the day came as Corey Wedlock and Barrie Lester were eliminated by Dale McWhinney Shillington and Dean McWhinney, while Kevin Anderson and Ryan Bester were ousted by Gary Charker and Todd Trewarne.
In the women’s fours, the round of 16 rounds has been set with the upset of the day coming as three of last year’s defending champions in Lynsey Clarke, Rebecca Van Asch and Kelsey Cottrell were eliminated with teammate Anne Johns.
The foursome were overcome by Glenys Read, Debbie Logan, Karen Goldsworthy and Tracy Foster who performed in phenomenal fashion to oust the 2022 winners with a score of 19-14.
Janet Healey, Melissa Caletti, Charmayne Sleman and Alison Venn also caused a huge shock, upsetting the heavy hitting team of Jamie-Lee Worsnop, Genevieve Delves, Dawn Hayman and Natasha Van Eldik 15-9 in the round of 64.
It was a successful day for Brianna Smith, Ellen Falkner, Kristina Krstic and Ellen Ryan as they enjoyed a pair of victories to progress, as did the team of Grace Moloney, Rebekah Lord, Sophie Kurzman and Kate Argent Bowden.
The squad of Olivia Cartwright, Katelyn Inch, Laura Butler and Chloe Stewart also emerged through in addition to Jessie Cottell, Kira Bourke, Cassandra Millerick and Bolivia Millerick.
The first 64 of a massive 99 Over 60s men’s pairs sections competed across the Gold Coast on Monday, in by far the biggest field in the discipline’s history.
Reigning champions Ian Stone and Scott Franklin started their campaign defence well, exiting their section unbeaten.
The remaining sections will compete on Tuesday, with 29 next-best qualifiers to advance with the 99 section winners to the round of 128.
After singles action yesterday, vision-impaired pairs play commenced on Monday.
Martin Bock and Scott Kinnear topped section one with three comfortable wins.
2022 Commonwealth Games pair Helen Boardman and Jake Fehlberg also advanced unbeaten.
The two teams will meet in the final at Broadbeach on Thursday.
Multi-disability open pairs action also got under way, with eight sections taking to the greens at Mermaid Beach.
Defending champions Cooper Whitestyles & Damien Delgado amassed a huge +62 shot difference from three wins to advance to the quarter finals.
Previous champions Lucas Protopapas and Ken Hanson also had a day out, dropping just 18 shots in three games to also advance to the knockout rounds, among a strong field.
