Top indoor bowls comes to Hamilton on Saturday and Sunday 14th and 15th September with the 55th New Zealand Mixed Fours and 4th Mixed Pairs national finals being played at the Waikato Indoor Bowls Centre Hall, Duncan Road, Hamilton.
The fours start at 10.30am on Saturday and the pairs at 8.30am on Sunday.
To compete in the national final teams must have won their district competitions and then come out on top in one of eight zone finals across the country.
Heading the field are three of the defending mixed fours champions from Canterbury Chris Matthews, Rob Osborne and Deanne Osborne this time combined with Kylie Gould at two. Gould is a current South Island representative and the other three are former South Island representatives. Matthews also competes in the mixed pairs with Carolyn Swanson. They won the South Island Eastern Zone.
The North Island Eastern Zone that Waikato competes in will be represented by Tauranga’s Paul Smith, Mike Phipps, Fiona Keegan and Lorraine Phipps who won the mixed fours in 2014 and 2017 and Tauranga’s Geoff Coughey and Leanne Webby in the pairs.
Both Lorraine and Mike Phipps are holders of Mixed Fours Gold Stars from wins in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2017. Smith and Keegan are Mat Blacks, Lorraine Phipps is a current North Island representative and Mike Phipps is a former New Zealand and North Island representative.
The 2016 champions Upper Hutt Valley’s Ashley Diamond, Brandon Fuge and Lisa White qualified with Tania Holmes leading this time, in the North Island Southern Zone. Diamond also won the title in 2011 with another team.
Another former Mixed Fours Champion Mike Johnston from Nelson who won in 1982 and 1985 qualified with his team of Giovanni Persico, Denise Powick and Diane Grooby in the South Island North Western Zone.
The South Island Southern Zone is represented by Mat Black Daniel French, South Island representatives David Webb and Keri Te Tamaki with Lynn Rance as two.
Two North Island representatives Jason Parker, Counties and Mark Ridley, North Taranaki skip pairs teams with Cindy White and Colleen Riddock respectively as their leads.
The teams are:
Mixed Fours
North Island
Northern Zone:
Counties: Roger Andrew (s), Joyce Wilson, Ian Malcolm, Angela Leslie;
Eastern Zone:
Tauranga: Paul Smith (s), Mike Phipps, Fiona Keegan, Lorraine Phipps;
Western Zone:
Taranaki: Karl Hughes (s), Andrea Berry, Rodney Morris, Ella Smailes;
South Eastern:
Hawkes Bay: Mike Appleby (s), Doug Lamb, Robyn Reardon, Carol Carmichael;
