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
