42 Bowlers from across BC (Kamloops - Courtenay) gathered at Juan de Fuca LBC (venue for the 2009 Canadian National Championships) to participate in the first of Bowls BC Provincial Playdowns of the season. 26 men and 16 women vied for the medals in the Singles Championships. It was good to see several competitors who had entered the Provincial Playoffs for the first time in their bowling career. It is hoped that they have had a good bowling experience and will return.
The competitors gathered under sunny skies and with the assistance of over 100 volunteers from the lower Island (Markers/Flippers) they participated in a closely matched/watched tourney. A special thank you to Juan de Fuca LBC and Bowls South Island in ensuring this tourney was a success. Both Gold and Silver medalists will proceed to the 2009 Nationals in August to proudly represent BC.
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Fours (Jul 3-5 North Vancouver LBC)
| Women | | Men | |
| Gold | Marion Hopkins, Elizabeth Day, Sue Sheppard, Cecile Romanko | Gold | German Santana, Vince Mai, Fred Fong, Geoff Pershick, |
| Silver | Marlene Cleutinx, Joan Barker, Carolyn Doan, Linda Brunn | Silver | Charles Ko, Stephen Yung, Chester Yeung, Michael Shea |
| Bronze | Lorraine Choy, Shella Holt, Shirley Lai, Rita Patterson | Bronze | Hirendra Bhartu, Steve Santana, Derek Kaufman, Tim Mason |
100 bowlers (60 men 40 women) from across BC gathered at North Vancouver LBC for the Provincial Fours Playdowns. Following three days of bowling in warm (hot) temperatures the victors emerged. As mentioned in the Singles competition there were players who have not entered Provincial Playdowns before. This year a team from White Rock LBC made their debut in fine fashion by winning the Gold medal in their first year of Playdowns by defeating the perenial favourites from their home club. The men's side of the contest consisted of several very close games that were decided in the last end. Congratulations to all the medalists and especially those who will be attending the National Championships in Victoria in August. Thanks once again to the members of North Vancouver LBC for hosting this event at their club.
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Pairs (Jul 10-12 Granville Park LBC) | Women | | Men | |
| Gold | Mary Wright, Belle Chan | Gold | Cary Manns, Bruce Matheson |
| Silver | Alice Duncalf, Juanita Tucker | Silver | Gary Robinson, Michael Leung |
| Bronze | Laura Botelho, Shannon Battles | Bronze | Paul Choi, Stanley Chow |
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Indoor Singles
Women | | Men | |
| Gold | | Gold | Steve Santana |
| Silver | | Silver | Vince Mai |
| Bronze | | Bronze | Paul Choi |
A large field of men played off for the Provincial Title with Steve Santana rising to the top. Unfortunately there was no Women's competition as the number of entries were at an alltime low. It would appear of the ladies wish to proceed into the Canadian Championships as wildcards rather than participating in this tourney.
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(with thanks to John Aveline)
The Canadian Indoor Singles Championships are complete and the winners are . . .
Vince Mai and Marie Taylor.
Now how they got there.
The men's semi-finalists were Paul Choi against Geoff Pershick and Vince Mai against Steve Santana.
Although Steve was the more consistent bowler, Vince made more clutch shots and won in straight sets.
Paul and Geoff went to a tiebreaker. Playing the last end of the tie-breaker and sitting square at 1-1, Geoff drew shot with the last bowl of the game to take the win and a shot at gold.
In the finals, there was great shot making, but Vince was not to be denied and won in straight sets.
Paul Choi took bronze when Steve's last bowl in the tie-breaker slid just past the jack instead of carrying it, or flicking it to his own bowl.
The women's semi-finalists were Alice Duncalf vs Diane Fulton and Marie Taylor vs Sandy Yau.
Marie won her game in straight sets, while Diane forced a tie-breaker against Alice and then went on to win that tie-breaker.
Alice went on to win the bronze medal (her eleventy-seventh national medal) and leave Sandy 4th for the second year in a row.
The really exciting game was the women's gold medal match. Diane and Marie played the first set to a tie. In the second set, Diane got off to a 6-0 lead before Marie battled back to trail 5-7 with 2 ends to play. In the 8th end, Marie was laying 1 and Diane a close 2nd. On the last bowl of the end, Diane trailed the jack a few inches, but not exactly in the right direction. Instead of scoring 1 or 2 for a 3 or 4 shot lead, Marie got the shot on a measure and so the score was 7-6 coming home. Marie then picked up 2 shots to win the set, game and gold medal.
Vince and Marie will now represent Canada in the World Cup; the World Indoor Singles Championships which will be played in Warilla, Australia April 22-29. This is the first indoor gold both both Marie and Vince, but don't let that fool you. Vince has represented Canada before on the National Team and as for Marie, in 2005 she finished second at the Canadian Indoor Singles, losing the gold to Shirley Choy, who only went on to become the World Champion in Warilla the following April.
BTW, that makes four Canadian singles players who will be playing internationally after winning a national singles title and all four are from BC! Vince, Marie, Josephine Lee and Vern Greenhill from North Island.
Good luck to one and all - we'll be following you!
p.s. I almost forgot, this event was very capably run by a number of individuals, most prominent of whom were Don Law as Event Chair, Peter Moffat as Head Event Umpire and Mary Ann Gillies as Wildcard Chair. We should also recognize the work of the umpires and markers whose work made the event possible. Well done everyone - great event for the 5th year in a row!
