Five states secure gold medal playoffs
Five states will playoff for gold across four disciplines tomorrow at the Australian Under-18 Championships in Adelaide Four gold medal matches have been decided at the Australian Under-18 Championships at Holdfast Bay in South Australia with a further four disciplines to advance to the final stages tomorrow morning.
After a hectic day on the greens playing four matches to ensure that the majority of sectional games were completed before Mother Nature plays havoc again, we have some scintillating gold medal matchups in the boy’s pairs and triples, and the girl’s singles and fours, between the countries brightest young stars.
Victoria’s Jarryd Davies and Curtis Hanley have scraped through to the boy’s pairs final after holding onto a draw with Queensland in the final sectional round.
Davies and Hanley went into the final end one shot in front; however Queensland skip Jayden Christie’s last bowl was millimetres from putting the Victorian’s down into the bronze medal playoff; Christie’s last bowl needed to draw a second shot but moved the jack slightly toward a Victorian bowl which only left Queensland with one shot.
Defending champions Josh Studham and Tyson Wilson had a huge last round victory over ACT and were holding onto their breath watching Christie’s final bowl coming down; however that draw left them half a game behind top spot and into the bronze medal playoff with Tasmania.
Two-time Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Jono Davis has booked himself another national under-18 final alongside his pairs partner and Australian Championship debutant Luke Grainger after they progressed through their section with three wins.
In the girls singles NSW’s’ Louise Cronan progressed through her section undefeated with two wins over NT/WA and Tasmania and will now meet Jessica Hogan from the ACT in the gold medal playoff.
Hogan went into the final sectional round 11 shots in front of Queensland’s Jessie Cottell but an eight shot defeat at the hands of South Australian Steph Clarke meant Hogan had to wait for the result in Cottell’s match to see who would progress to tomorrow’s final.
Cottell was in the box seat leading her Victorian opponent 19-14; however a couple of big conversions from Mikayla Long kept the Victorian ace in the match and also gave Hogan a glimmer of hope.
In the end Cottell prevailed in the longest singles match of the tournament to date 21-19 but that margin was not enough to jump the ACT NTC Squad member Jessica Hogan.
It is a State of Origin like battle in the girls fours gold medal match with Queensland and New South Wales set to do battle.
Both states have gone through sectional play undefeated led by their skips, Australian Open Under-18 singles finalist Jessica Srisamruaybai (Queensland) and Australian Under-18 Squad member Kate Matthews (NSW).
Tasmania is the fifth state to book a ticket in a gold medal match with their boys triples team of Issac Maughan, Josh Appleyard and Julian Brown setting up an epic encounter with 2015 triples runner-up QLD, represented by Mitchell Mears, Dale McWhinney-Shillington and Jacob Nelson.
With half the finals decided, already we will witness every state and territory playing off for a medal tomorrow.
With the treat of more rain to hit Adelaide late tomorrow and most of Monday, tournament directors and state managers have come to the decision to play the remaining sectional match and both finals games tomorrow starting trial ends at 8:00am, 11:00am and 2:00pm with presentations to follow half an hour after the last match is completed.
Bowls Australia would like to acknowledge the assistance and funding provided by the Australian Commonwealth Games Association to Bowls Australia for athletes in the 2016 NextGEN AUSComGames Squad program.
NextGEN AUSComGames was devised by the ACGA to provide assistance to junior players who have been identified as potential 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, and/or 2018 or 2022 Commonwealth Games level athletes.
To view the results click here
Boys Triples-
1st/2nd playoff- Tasmania v Queensland
3rd/4th playoff- NSW v South Australia
5th/6th playoff- Northern Territory v Victoria
7th/8th playoff- Western Australia v ACT
Boys Pairs-
1st/2nd playoff- NSW v Victoria
3rd/4th playoff- South Australia v Tasmania
5th/6th playoff- Western Australia v ACT
7th/8th playoff- Northern Territory v Queensland
Girls Singles-
1st/2nd playoff- ACT v NSW
3rd/4th playoff- Queensland v NT/WA
5th/6th playoff- Tasmania v South Australia
7th/8th playoff- Victoria v Composite
Girls Fours-
1st/2nd playoff- NSW v Queensland
3rd/4th playoff- NT/WA v South Australia
5th/6th playoff- Victoria v Tasmania
7th/8th playoff- ACT v Composite
Caption- Australian Indoor runner-up Curtis Hanley has booked a place in his first Australian Under-18 final.
