Edgeworth Springboard For Fijian World Assault

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday September 5, 2007

John Gilmour - On the kitty

FOUR members of the Fijian national team are using the Edgeworth 10,000 this week as part of their build-up for World Bowls in New Zealand next year.

Fijian Bowls Association president Peter Thaggard is the skipper of the team that is playing at Edgeworth, and he said the tournament was a vital learning curve for his teammates.

"The Edgeworth tournament each year allows us an opportunity to give members of our national squad the opportunity of not only playing on faster greens, but also experience on a synthetic surface," Thaggard said.

"Back home we only have grass greens that usually run between three and four seconds slower than the average Australian green."

Thaggard first represented Fiji in 1985. He is on his fourth visit to Edgeworth, and while his three teammates are all Fijian internationals, he is the only member of his quartet with experience in playing on Australian greens.

His lead, Shorab Khan, first played for Fiji in 1997 and represented his country at World Bowls in South Africa in 2003. His second, Lema Maitlevu, is only 21 and made his international debut in the World Junior Cup this year.

The third, David Aitcheson, made his first appearance for Fiji against Queensland in 2005.

"There are in all 10 players in the mix to represent Fiji at World Bowls next year, and this is just the start of the selection process," Thaggard said.

"This year we sent five members of the squad, including Ratish Lal, to the South Pacific Games, four players came to Edgeworth, while Babu Khan, who has played singles at World Bowls for Fiji, went to Hong Kong to play in an international singles tournament."

The Fijians only scraped home for their first victory in four games yesterday afternoon and are out of contention to be placed in the tournament, which concludes this afternoon.

Veteran Soldiers Point skipper Neville Downes and his combination of clubmates Bob Dunn and Jason Pietraszek along with Andrew Smith (Waratah) lead unbeaten with three wins and a plus margin of 43 shots leading into the final two rounds today.

Wayne Lambourne (Maitland City) and his quartet of Mark Wheatley (Kurri Kurri), Dave Arnoult (The Entrance) and Denis Dalton (Maitland City) on four wins plus 39 shots are breathing right down their necks in second place.

Then comes the Raymond Terrace quartet of Matt Harris, Dick Kelty, Garry Randall and Lennon Scott, the only other unbeaten team with four wins plus 27. They inflicted the first defeat on Kurri Kurri skipper Tony Harris yesterday afternoon when they scored 13 shots in the final four ends to win 28-18.