Heavy great skies and intermittent drizzle did not stop a spectacular day of bowls at the Burnside Bowling Club on Monday as the Summer of Bowls continues. A high standard of skilful play occurred as players battled unpleasant weather in the singles event of the New Zealand Blind Lawn Bowling Association National Championships. The singles event will be completed today with many key match ups likely to have a significant impact on the final placings.

In the B1 singles the late withdrawal, because of extended family health reasons, of the perennial winner David Monk has given others a great opportunity to win the title. Glenn Hanneman (with Director Bernard Yeo) has grabbed this chance with both hands winning all three games with his position only achieving low single points in each game. This division will be decided today with a  further round robin event completing the competition.

The B2 event has been a hard fought division with quality games across the section. Last seasons champion Deane Robertson (with Director Kevin Smith) has relished playing at his home club and leads the section with three wins from three matches. He is being closely challenged however by Gerald Brouwers (with Director Bill Easton) who has two wins and a draw and last years runner up Ron Sime (with Director Sharon Perry) sitting on a win and a draw. Joseph Kim (with a new Director Margaret Davies) has also been playing extremely well despite losing closely to Robertson and Sime. Robertson's last two qualifying matches this morning, against Sime and then Brouwers will have a large impact on who will play in this afternoons final.

The B3 event also has been a hard fought affair. David Stallard (with Director Helen Stallard) and Danny Simon (with local Burnside member, Director David Conroy) have been dominating the field with three wins each from three games. Their match up in the first round this morning could well be a rehearsal for the final of this section this afternoon. Don Clark (with Director Ray Zajonskowski) are lurking nearby with two wins but he would need to have two wins in the last two round and then rely on other results to make it to the final.

The B4 event has also produced high quality matches across the section with four games being played in this group. Former World Championship player, James Dunn has lead the way with four comprehensive wins. A new player from Nelson, Steve Delaney (with his father Colin as his Director) has had an excellent tournament thus far winning three games and only losing a close game to last years winner Spencer Stacy (with Director Sue Ashton). Dunn certainly has the inside running to win this event but with both Delaney and Stacy close behind he would not want to stumble. His second round match this morning will likely decide the placings in the section. This section had  a long day on the greens starting at 8.30am a nd the last game finishing at 5.45pm.

Play commenced this morning at 8.30am. Results will be continually updated throughout the day and can be found by the following link: - http://www.burnsidebowlingclub.com/2018NationalBlindChampionship.html?fbclid=IwAR3tKCMxFK17ar4XUselHf-wqDjfdCutAee9SJPA7aL2my1ek9OyNbsDHbw

Article written by Kevin Smith