2023 World Bowls Championships: Right at Home Para Jackaroos preview
It has been a staggering seven years since the last World Bowls Championships in Christchurch in 2016, and a lot has happened since Australia hoisted the Taylor Trophy and finished with the silver in the Leonard Trophy standings.
Australia’s Gold Coast will play host to this year’s showpiece event and the Right at Home Jackaroos will be in the thick of the action as the green and gold draped stars host yet another tournament.
Let’s have a look at the para members of the squad, who will be Australia’s first World Bowls Championships para team.
Damien Delgado
Has already performed with distinction at international level, earning a silver medal at last year’s Commonwealth Games in the para men’s pairs.
The Club Tweed member is a team first player that brings up the morale of those around him due to his relaxed and humorous nature.
Delgado will team up with James Reynolds at the World Championships as he looks to bring home his maiden gold medal at a major global event.
On home soil he has previously hoisted numerous national titles, including at the 2022 Australian Open where he and Cooper Whitestyles took home the disability pairs event, making him a dangerous prospect in the field with his vast experience on the greens of the Gold Coast.
James Reynolds
Back in the national setup and continuing to lead by example, Reynolds makes his return to a major international event 21 years after his bronze medal showing at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
A dedicated coach as well as player, the Australian Capital Territory native brings a wealth of experience to the Jackaroos lineup, with a mentality that not many others can match on the green.
Such is Reynolds’ talent, he has conquered numerous national multi disability competitions, and has even competed at the open Australian Champion of Champions and skipped his rink in the Australian Sides Series.
His partnership with Delgado is sure to be one of the strongest at this year’s tournament.
Cheryl Lindfield
On of the cult heroes at last year’s Commonwealth Games where she earned a silver medal with teammate Serena Bonnell, the Queenslander is one of the most determined athletes within the squad.
The pair will pair up again in the para women’s pairs again after taking home Multi Nations gold together in March in their quest to go one better than Birmingham, having gone down to Scotland in the decider.
Lindfield is in sensational form, having claimed the Australian Open multi-disability women’s singles title in June thanks to a stellar comeback against her World Championships teammate.
She understands the greens well and has been training hard ahead of this month’s showpiece event as she looks to dazzle on her tournament debut in what will be a history making event for all of the Para Jackaroos.
Serena Bonnell
A pioneer and driver of inclusivity, it is only fitting that Bonnell is part of the first Para Jackaroos team to compete at the World Bowls Championships.
Having already experienced a major international tournament in Birmingham, where she took home a silver medal, Bonnell will surely lean on that experience as she searches for global glory.
Living on the Gold Coast, the 41-year-old has an in depth knowledge of the conditions and how the greens run, exhibiting that in March where she and Lindfield conquered the Multi Nations.
The pair are great friends and that cohesion will make them one of the most challenging tasks in the draw for their opponents.
Jake Fehlberg (Director – Cody Fehlberg)
Took home gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the very same city as this year’s World Championships and is one of the premier vision impaired bowlers in the world.
With his father, Grant, retiring as his director, Fehlberg’s brother Cody has been outstanding since filling the role and guided Jake to the gold medal in the Australian Open’s VI mixed pairs and the silver at the Multi Nations.
The Queenslander also earned two titles at this year’s International Blind Bowls Association (IBBA) World Championships.
Fehlberg will team up with Jackie Hudson for the World Championships.
Jackie Hudson (Director – Robert Hudson)
The only Para Jackaroo to be making her major international tournament debut at the World Championships, Hudson and her director Robert have enjoyed a sensational year to earn selection.
Hudson took home a gold at the IBBA World Championships this year, and would earn a silver medal at the Multi Nations with Fehlberg as the pair developed a strong on-green connection.
The New South Wales native will provide perfect service to her teammate as lead, and the pair will be the ones to watch on home soil.
