Tuition at the New Zealand Academy of Sport in Dunedin over the last two years has given Cromwell's Shaun Scott the mental edge he has used at the Asia-Pacific championships in Adelaide this week.
Scott, in his first Asia-Pacific championships, remains unbeaten after three rounds of the men's singles.
His latest win was against Danny Ho (Hong Kong) whom he beat 21-11.
Scott fell at the last hurdle when he finished runner-up to Tony Grantham (Auckland) in the singles at the New Zealand championships in 2007.
But he had added mental toughness when he won the singles title at the national championships in Dunedin in January.
That win was the turning point in Scott's career and it led to his selection for New Zealand in the transtasman series in Invercargill in April.
Scott has taken the singles spot from Ali Forsyth who won the gold medal at the past two Asia-Pacific championships in 2007 and 2009.
The women's pair of Val Smith and Jo Edwards are back on winning track after losing the first round to Australia.
In the second round, they beat Carrie Fossati and Anne Nunes (United States) 32-5 and in the third round downed Fiji's Radhika Prasad and Litia Tikoisuva 26-7.
The Nelson bowlers are accustomed to winning gold medals at the Asia-Pacific championships. Edwards won a gold in the pairs in 2001 and the fours in 200,3 and Smith won the women's singles in 2007.
The women's triples team of Leanne Curry, Genevieve Baildon and Jan Khan beat Hong Kong 13-11 and defending champion Malaysia 23-12.
Malaysia dominated the most recent tournament in Kuala Lumpur two years ago.
Skip Jan Khan was part of the winning women's four when the championships were held in her home town of Christchurch in 2007.
The men's fours is skipped by another Asia Pacific-winner Richard Girvan, who won the men's triples in 2005. The four of Tony Grantham , Dan Delany, Ali Forsyth and Girvan beat Singapore 30-14 before going down to Brunei side 20-13.
