Indoors ready to ignite
This year’s Australian Indoor Championships unquestionably boasts the strongest field in the event’s rich 33-year history, with a field twice the size of any other year resulting in international exponents, national titleholders and defending champions littered throughout the 64-player draw.
The women’s draw is a veritable who’s who of Australian bowls, with former winners gunning for another dose of glory in Genevieve Delves (2019) and Natasha Scott (2016), and Australian stars Kelsey Cottrell, Dawn Hayman and Chloe Stewart.
A contingent of other stars loom large among the list, looking to secure a maiden trophy, including Lynsey Clarke, Bolivia Millerick, Jessie Cottell, Kira Bourke, Cassandra Millerick and ‘international raiders’ Ellen Falkner, Kay Moran and Carmen Anderson.
In the men’s contest, Robert Briglia and Aaron Teys are attempting to strike gold twice, but face an assembly of some of the nation’s biggest names.
A host of Jackaroos juggernauts, in Aaron Wilson, Ben Twist, Corey Wedlock and Jesse Noronha are primed to mount an attack on the trophy cabinet, while Aron Sherriff, Matthew Flapper, Peter Taylor and Nathan Black, among others, also lurk ominously in the expanded 64-player draw.
The beauty of the Australian Indoor Championships is the unearthing of players from all around Australia, who have earned their way into the event via an arduous qualification process in their respective state or territory.
The likes of well-known state combatants in Jamie Anderson, Dane McKinnon, Taelyn Male, Sean Mawdsley, Sarah Boddington, Kim Saunders, Lisa Featherby and Colleen Orr are also among the field, showcasing the depth of talent in this year’s event.
Eight players from both fields have been seeded and placed in the draw accordingly, determined by defending champions (seed 1), defending Australian Open singles champions (seed 2) and the remaining seeds given to the top six ranked qualifiers under Bowls Australia’s Player Ranking System at the conclusion of the previous ranking year.
By virtue of winning the 2019 Australian Indoor Championship titles, Robert Briglia and Gen Delves have earned automatic qualification for this year’s event and seed 1 in their respective draws, while the same applies to 2019 Australian Open Singles champions Aron Sherriff and Kelsey Cottrell (seed 2).
This year’s staging of the Australian Indoor Championships will be the 33rd in its history at the magnificent Club Tweed indoor complex.
Not only will our eventual champions leave the event with a prestigious national title, but they will also be $6,000 richer in the purse, receive 90 Bowls Australia Ranking Points and secure automatic qualification for both the World Bowls Indoor Championships at Warilla next year (representing Australia) and next year’s Australian Indoor Championships.
