Hong Kong gold for Ben Twist and Aussie Pair
BCiB Australian Jackaroos Ben Twist and the combination of Natasha Scott and Ellen Ryan have taken out the gold medals in the 2018 Hong Kong International Bowls Classic Men’s Singles and Women’s Pairs respectively.
Ben Twist abetted Australia’s domination on the Hong Kong International claiming his first Hong Kong Invitation Singles title during the recent Jackaroos tour.
Following in the footsteps of previous winners, Adam Jeffery, Barrie Lester, Leif Selby and Jesse Noronha, Twist etched his name into the history books after prevailing in the quality field of 64, which included internationals from 12 countries and the best Hong Kong local players.
Twist was the last Australian standing in the knockout singles event and after five gruelling rounds he faced off with Northern Irishman Aaron Tennant in the coveted men’s final.
Twist lost the first set 3-8 but fought his way back into the match winning the second set by five shots.
In the tie-breaker the BCiB Australian Jackaroo was able to hold his nerve and post a 4-2 victory in the three end shoot-out.
Defending Champion, Australia’s Jesse Noronha was a victim of Northern Irelands Aaron Tennant earlier in the event, going down 1-3 in a tie-break; also going out of the event in round three was Australian Bowler of the Year Natasha Scott, losing to Hong Kong Chinas Helen Cheung 7-3, 5-10, 2-6.
Two-time Australian Open Singles Champion Ellen Ryan was defeated in round two by Scotland’s Natalie Docherty 3-9, 4-8.
The Hong Kong International Bowls Classic main event is the pair’s competition and it was our Australian women’s team who came up with the goods after 11 sectional matches and two quality finals.
Ellen Ryan and Natasha Scott were in dominating form during sectional play, not dropping a single match on their way to topping their section, bypassing a quarter-final and moving directly into the semis.
The Australian’s faced the Philippines in the semi-final which they won in straight sets, 12-3, 10-6 and would come up against a tough Malaysian pairing, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist Emma Saroji and Siti Zalina Ahmad in the final.
The Australian’s started the match well claiming the first set by one shot; however it was the Australian’s who were on the receiving end of the narrow one shot defeat in set 2.
This high standard final was headed to a tie-break and just one shot would separate these finalist with Ryan and Scott claiming gold 2-1 in the shootout.
The Aussie men’s combination of Noronha and Twist were defeated by New Zealand 6-15, 8-7, 0-4 in the quarter-final.
“I knew it was going to be a high quality game against the Malaysians as they are traditionally heavy green players and they also topped their section,” Natasha Scott said.
“When we narrowly lost the second set I was a little nervous but also confident in our ability to play well in the tie-break.”
“Both Ellen and I had never played in Hong Kong so it was a fantastic experience being able to play on a surface which was more like a croquet green in Australia.”
Click here to re-watch the Women’s and Men’s Singles finals
Click here to re-watch the Women’s and Men’s Pairs finals
Click here for the full results
