Bowls: Good weekend's work could promote Watt

Mark Watt (North East Valley) will be keen to knock veteran Ken Walker (Fairfield) off his Professional Bowls Association perch in Dunedin this weekend.

Watt, a member of the New Zealand Development squad, was a key member of the New Zealand team that beat Australia in the PBA Trans Tasman Challenge last month.

He is 30 points behind Walker, who sits in second spot on the New Zealand PBA ranking list. The top three are all from Dunedin and are headed by Duane White (Forbury Park) on 324 points.

He is followed by Walker on 263, Watt on 233 and Wayne Stewart (Hamilton) on 221.

Watt, an apprentice engineer, first made his mark at national level in 2003, when as a pupil at East Otago High School he won the New Zealand secondary schools pairs title with Josh Freeman.

Four years later, he won the Hong Kong Classic singles and was a member of the New Zealand development team against Scotland.

Watt is now a mature bowler and has learnt the hard lessons that saw him drop out of favour with the national selectors three years ago.

He was a contender for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi but his form lapsed after that and he was dropped from the elite national squad.

However, he has forced his way back and proved that he can match it at the elite level by his performances in the Trans Tasman Challenge at the East Cessnock Club in New South Wales last month.

This weekend's PBA ranking pairs and the qualifying tournament for the English International Open singles could change the ranking.

The ranking list has significance because the top four bowlers on the list at the end of the PBA season will automatically be selected for next year's Trans Tasman test against Australia. The East Cessnock Club has been confirmed as the venue for next year's challenge.

Games will be played at all New Zealand venues this weekend and the winners of the singles will go to the final in Invercargill from September 6-8.

White made a strong point when he beat former world singles champion Steve Glasson in the PBA Trans Tasman Challenge last month.

His top position on the ranking list will not be changed. The big interest will be focused on the performances of Walker and Watt to see if they can retain their second and third ranking.

The ranking pairs and qualifying for the English International Open singles will be played at the Westpac Bowls Stadium this weekend.

Play will start on Friday evening and the finals will be played on Sunday afternoon.