SIMON O’CONNOR/Stuff
Briar Atkinson has won her first New Zealand bowls title. (File photo).
COMMUNITY SPORT: Paritutu’s Black Jack-in-waiting Briar Atkinson claimed her maiden New Zealand bowls title in Hastings on Sunday.
Atkinson won the women’s champion-of-champions singles title beating Stokes Valley’s Nicole Toomey 21-13 in the final.
Atkinson turned on a consistent performer to become the third Taranaki woman to succeed in the event since it was established in 1957. Grace Gillespie in 1961 and Pearl Dymond in 1969 were the previous winners, while on the men’s front, John Murtagh, Geoff Hawken and Dean Elgar have also won the equivalent title.
As Taranaki folk have witnessed, especially over the past season, Atkinson has grown into an elite player, claiming three Taranaki titles last summer.
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In Hastings, despite dropping a match in section play to Audrey Stevenson (Kapiti), Atkinson still qualified easily by winning her other three games. In the quarterfinals, she beat Jane Anderson (Marlborough) 21-9 and Linley O’Callaghan (Otago Central) 21-7.
Toomey, a dual bronze medallist from last year’s Commonwealth Games, was a much tougher assignment in the finale. Both players drew well, with the scores locked at 10-all, before Atkinson edged away.
The rub of the green tended to go Atkinson’s way, she made her own luck by playing the right shots and always erring on the tight side when reaching the head. Toomey, while drawing with precision, was often guilty of playing wide when down.
In the men’s event, Auckland’s Tony Grantham took out the title 21-8 over Whanganui’s Kaylin Huwyler, who of course claimed three Taranaki titles under the Paritutu banner last season.
That final, too, was a close encounter, with Huwyler leading 8-7.
But Grantham, with many distinctions including four Dominion titles under his belt, lengthened the heads out and completely dominated the scoring after that.
Huwyler, nonetheless, certainly enhanced his reputation on his trip to the final.
In the semifinals, he beat Nathan Glasson (Canterbury) 21-12. It was Glasson who had ended the hopes of the Taranaki representative, Maurice Symes (Fitzroy), 21-13 in the last eight. Symes, too, had done well to advance from a tricky qualifying group.
The national champion-of-champions series continues over the next three weekends, with the pairs and triples in Dunedin, before the fours are held in Auckland on July 21-23.
