Former internationals Ken Walker (Fairfield) and Paul Girdler
(Leith) are the favourites, but they will find it difficult
to win the Dunedin Professional Bowls Association qualifying
pairs title for the third year in a row.
The qualifying rounds for the Potters World Pairs are being
held at Pukekohe, Hamilton, Hastings and the Westpac Indoor
Bowls Stadium in Dunedin tomorrow.
The winners will meet in Hamilton on August 30 to find the
New Zealand representative for the world championships in
England next January.
Walker and Girdler have won the national final for the past
two years and represented New Zealand at the world pairs
final at Potters Leisure Centre in Norfolk, England, against
the best players in the world.
It will be more difficult this year because they face some
experienced combinations in the Dunedin field tomorrow.
The most prominent of these are Shaun Scott (North East
Valley) and Shane Sincock (Canterbury).
Scott won the New Zealand champion of champions singles title
this year, and Sincock has always been prominent on the
national scene.
Also worth watching are promising juniors Mark Watt and Nick
Buttar (North East Valley) and veteran Bill Clements
(Alexandra) with Andrew Kelly (Canterbury).
Kelly was skip of the teenage Kelly gang that reached the
finals of the national fours two years ago.
Other pairs to watch are Ross Stewart and Andrew McGregor
(Southland), Dave Archer and Robbie Gibson (Taieri) and
Andrew McCullum and Robbie Thomson (Fairfield).
A new underfelt has been put under the mat at the Westpac
Stadium and the green is running 1.5sec faster, at 17
seconds, than it has in the past. This represents a 3m
difference in length.
The indoor season for the New Zealand PBA circuit starts this
weekend with events at all four of the country's
international-class indoor bowls stadiums.
Membership of the New Zealand PBA has continued to grow and
it has maintained its position as the third-largest branch in
the world behind England and Scotland.
Interest in the sport has been particularly strong in the
Pacific region, with Australia and Hong Kong also recording
an increase in membership this year.
There are 217 members of the PBA in New Zealand, 73 (more
than one-third) of whom are registered in Dunedin.
Professional Bowls Association
2008 programme
May 31: World Indoor Pairs qualifiers in Pukekohe,
Hamilton, Hastings, Dunedin.
June 1-2: Scottish International Singles (direct entry
tournaments in Hamilton and Hastings).
June 21-22: Engage International Open Singles (direct
entry tournaments in Pukekohe and Dunedin).
July 26-27: World Indoor Singles (direct entry
tournaments in Pukekohe, Hamilton, Hastings and Dunedin).
August 16 -17: Welsh International Open Singles
(direct entry tournaments in Hastings and Dunedin).
August 30 -September 1: World Indoor Pairs play-offs
and House of Travel Pairs in Hamilton.
January 1: Pre-National Pairs in Auckland
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