Tongy takes out AO mixed pairs crown
Nathan Brett Murphy, Murphy, Kaye Kaye Freeman, Freeman, Nathan Appleton, Appleton, Brett Barry Lynne, Forster, Jones. BarryJoy Lynne, JoyBruce Forster, Bruce Jones.
He talks the talk, now he’s proved he can walk the walk.
Bowls Queensland development officer Steve Tong’s job is to advise Queensland bowls clubs on how to attract new members and keep existing players in the sport with tactics to increase their enjoyment and satisfaction. Now he’s got an Australian Open title to boast about when he’s next out on those facilitation visits!
Tong, from Hamilton BC in Brisbane’s inner north, teamed up with Pine Rivers Pirate Faye Clarke to sweep all before them at the 2013 Australian Open at Darebin in Victoria. “It helped that I took two weeks off to get some practise in before the championships,” Tong said.
“There are four greens down there and they’re all different, the rinks are different, and it was great having the extra time to work on my delivery.” Tong followed up a respectable top 32 finish in the Singles with gold medal triumph in the Mixed Pairs.
“Faye is easy to play with and we’re used to each other, we only dropped one set in the tournament,” Tong said. In the semi-final, Tong and Clarke proudly collected the scalps of celebrated Australian players Claire (nee Duke) and Wayne Turley from NSW.
In the final, they showed no mercy against Club Helensvale dynamic duo Amanda Haevecker and Rohan Wilson, winning 9-7, 10-3, to bring home an Australian Open gold medal and a nice winner’s cheque. “Maybe we concentrated that little bit harder, playing against another Queensland team, we know each other and how we play,” Tong said. “Both Faye and I couldn’t be happier with the result!” It was Tong’s first Australian Open appearance.
The 33-year-old said his goal was to continue to improve his game and hope to one day press for Queensland selection. Steven Tong and Faye Clarke
Impressive Medal haul Queensland’s disabled bowlers take two gold and two silver during impressive AO Queensland bowlers with a disability have won a handsome share of the silverware in the Southern Hemisphere’s most lucrative lawns bowls event, taking home four medals at the 2013 Australia Open. The round-robin tournament saw athletes compete in men’s and women’s singles disciplines across categories for vision impaired, hearing impaired, and bowlers with a physical or intellectual disability.
Dalby young gun Nathan Appleton had a brilliant campaign in the AUSRAPID draw (Lifestream category), winning the gold medal in straight sets 10-5, 7-5 in a powerhouse demonstration against South Australia’s Michael Lowrie. In the women’s draw, 2012 runner-up Kaye Freeman got her own back against last year’s gold medallist Joanna Lomagno from Victoria.
The Queenslander from Brisbane bayside club, Cleveland, beat Lomagno 10-8, 12-1 in a decisive reversal of last year’s finishing order. In the Blind Bowls (ABBA) final, 10-time Australian Open champ Joy Forster from Chermside (Brisbane) was outplayed 7-1, 7-4 and had no choice but to hand over the crown to South Australia’s Kath Murrell.
Murrell from Elizabeth BC (Adelaide) is also a worthy poster-girl for blind bowls, with more than 30 Blind Bowler titles to her name. Photo courtesy of Bowls Australia
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In the men’s ABBA category, Tuggeranong Valley’s Craig Newbery proved too strong for last year’s runner-up Andrew Ness, reigning supreme in the final 6-6, 7-3.
In the AAWD category (including Sporting Wheelies), Murgon’s Silvia Hiltunen was a casualty to eventual gold medallist Wendy Odgers, who went on to win the final against 2011 World Women’s Pairs champion Carolyn Nelson 11-1, 7-2. The Brighton star was undefeated during the tournament, which meant Hiltunen’s score 5-10, 7-7 against Odgers was respectable. In the men’s AAWD category, James Reynolds had a tight tussle against Angaston Bowling Club’s Liam Buckley in the men’s final, with the 2002 Commonwealth Games EAD triples bronze medallist prevailing when the game was on the line in the tie-break 6-7, 10-5, 4-1. In the men’s Deaf Bowls (DSA) category, Queenslander Barry Lynne was unlucky to lose the gold medal to Kangaroo Flat’s Robert Morrall by the smallest of margins in the final 7-6, 2-11, 4-3. Sadly, due to insufficient nominations, Mooloolaba’s Gail Dellar was unable to defend her 2012 Australian Open women’s crown, with the category pulled at the eleventh hour. Queensland State Development Manager Brett Murphy accompanied Queensland’s multi disability bowlers to the Australian Open at Darebin (Victoria). He said the standard of play was very high, a good omen for the upcoming 2013 Bowls Multi-Disability National Championships, to be held at Chermside BC from June 11-15. v36/6