THE Lothian challenge in the WIBC World Bowls Championships at Swansea didn't get off to great start yesterday, with only Midlothian's Colin Walker finishing the day with three wins from his three matches, while East Lothian's Scott Kennedy and Wendy Archer lost both their pairs and singles games.
Walker lined up alongside defending mixed pairs title-holder Claire Johnston from Auchinleck and they got their first win under their belt to move through to today's quarter-finals against Guernsey's Leanna Bichard and Dan de la Mare, after a straigh
t sets 9-2, 10-1 win over Malaysia's Azlina Arshad and Syed Mohamad with the Dalkeith man beating Syed again in his section singles 8-5, 10-6 and then wrapping up a successful opening day with a hard-fought 10-4, 6-9, 2-0 win in his second singles match against local hopeful Ben Thomas.
However, it wasn't to be for National Singles Champions Kennedy from East Lothian and Archer from West Lothian, as they were unexpectedly beaten in all three matches on tie-breaks.
The Lothian duo had been widely tipped as favourites to take the mixed pairs title, but they lost to Malaysians Nor Shafeeqah Yahya and Amir Yusof 4-11, 8-7, 2-1 with Kennedy later beaten 8-7, 5-14, 2-1 by Jersey's Tommy Greechan and Archer losing by a similar scoreline to late singles substitute Suzanne King, wife of world champion Mervyn from Norfolk, 3-11, 7-4, 2-0 in the singles.
Archer admitted later: "It was a really frustrating game against Suzanne. It was just so comfortable in the first set but in the second she played one bowl every end to kill a count for me. I didn't play badly, I played well. I know these things happen, but I can't afford any more slip ups if I've to get through to the knock-out stages."
The full article contains 323 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
