England’s Sam Tolchard remains well-placed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champion of Champions at Naenae BC in New Zealand following the third day of action.
On a day when the renowned Wellington weather hit hard – forcing the competition indoors during the afternoon session – the Kings Torquay Commonwealth Games medallist won his second game after suffering a first defeat of the week in his opener.
It was Norfolk Island champion Trevor Gow who became the first bowler to lower Sam’s colours when he claimed a 4-16, 6-5, 3-1 success.
The Englishman went on to defeat Singapore’s A. Loh 14-5, 11-3 in his second outing.
This leaves Sam in second place in Section One where he trails New Zealand’s kelvin Scott by two shots.
Section One:
Round Seven: C Alexander (FLK) bt S Williams (GUE) 12-6 9-8, G McCloy (IRE) bt B Nicholls (CYP) 14-8 12-6, T Gow (NFI) bt S Tolchard (ENG) 4-16 6-5 3-1, A Loh (SIN) bt G White (SCO) 6-7 9-8 4-3, K Scott (NZL) bt M Mercer (ZAM) 21-1 18-2.
Round Eight: McCloy bt K Pillay (FIJ) 13-2 10-6, I Lealaiauloto (SAM) bt Mercer 17-3 5-11 4-0, Nicholls bt Williams 9-6 10-4, N Benguric (RSA) bt E Nyoka (BOT) 11-5 9-4.
Round Nine: Gow bt Nyoka 15-3 14-2, Scott bt Lealaiauloto 10-3 13-0, Tolchard bt Loh 14-5 11-3, Pillay bt Alexander 7-10 8-7 4-0.
Table at the end of Day Three: Scott 18 points +103 shots, Tolchard 15 +101, Gow 15 +41, White 12 +45.8, McCloy 12 +53.5, Benguric 12 +44.8, Loh 12 +1.8, Pillay 9 -26, Lealaiauloto 9 -32, Alexander 6 -10, Nicholls 6 -71, Mercer 3 -53.5, Nyoka 3 -59, Williams 3 -58.
In Section Two defending champion Lee Schraner from Australia remains unbeaten but only after a mighty battle with Hungary’s Zoltan Pavelko who forced the hot favourite into a fourth end of a tiebreaker, before losing 2-19 5-4 2-4 in a rousing performance.
Section Two table after day three:
Schraner 18 points +126 shots, James 18 +48, Aperau 12 +13.5, Dzulkeple 9 +35, Davis 9 +8.5, Cheung 9 -3, Tafatu 9 -7, Herbert 9 +1.8, Leong 9 +1.3, Waelti 9 -18, Krahenbuhl 9 Sq, Pavelka 6 -59, Bäckgren 6 -34, Amar 3 -63
In the women’s competition the USA’s Anne Nunes leads the way with an unblemished tab of six wins from six starts.
England’s Stef Branfield finished the day by claiming her second win – over Daphne Arthur-Almond from the Falkland Islands – after earlier losing to local hero Tayla Bruce.
Women:
Round Seven: A Nunes (USA) bt M Thomas (WAL) 14-2 9-7, C Krizanic (AUS) bt J McClure (IRE) 7-5 9-5, T Bruce (NZL) bt S Branfield (ENG) 13-3 10-3, A Tarmizi (MAS) bt N Mataio (CKI) 3-11 10-6 6-0.
Round Eight: McClure bt D Arthur-Almond (FLK) 12-4 8-6, D Viljoen (NAM) bt E Dolieslager (NED) 7-10 10-5 3-1, Thomas bt C Jones (NFI) 11-6 8-5, Krizanic bt E Haley (RSA) 13-2 11-3.
Round Nine: Branfield bt Arthur-Almond 10-5 13-5, Bruce bt Mataio 15-2 8-5, Nunes bt Viljoen 7-6 13-3, Haley bt M Modutlwa (BOT) 5-7 13-6 4-2.
Table after day three:
Krizanic 18 points +68 shots, Nunes 18 +40.8, Bruce 15 +67.3, Thomas 15 +22, Tarmizi 15 +29.3, Jones 9 +18.3, Modutlwa 9 -15.3, Dolieslager 9 -26.8, Haley 9 -13, McClure 6 -1, Mataio 6 +1.5, Viljoen 6 -23.7, Branfield 6 -44, Arthur-Almond 3 -32.3.