French (31), who won the event two years ago, was the only Otago player to reach post-section play for the main event of the Henselite champion of champion’s singles.
He beat Michael Lawson (Ashburton) 14-4 in the first round but lost the quarterfinal in the next game to Chris Matthews (Canterbury) 11-2.
To qualify for the event bowlers had to win the singles championships in their own centre.
The other three Otago players competed in the plate event during the post-section round.
The best performed was Colin Robson (Central Otago), who beat Christine Davis (Hawkes Bay) 13-6 in the second round but lost to Alister Wilson (North Taranaki) 13-4 in the quarterfinal.
This was no disgrace as Wilson won his five singles games in the Welch Trophy the previous weekend.
Wilson was beaten 11-9 in the plate final by Joseph Zino (Hutt Valley).
Doug Grant (South Otago) lost his second-round post-section game to Derek Cooper (South Canterbury) 10-5.
Mike Howard (North Otago) lost in the first post-section round to Kevin Marshall (King Country) 13-5.
In the final of the main event, Geoff Coughey (Tauranga) beat Nigel Warnes (Golden Bay-Motueka) 15-6.
