FOSTER WINS PREMIER LEAGUE FOR THIRD TIME

 

PAUL Foster won the Premier League Bowls title for the third time as he edged out Mark Royal in a dramatic one-end shoot-out.

 

Royal won the first set of the final 5-4, but Foster claimed the second 9-5 and then won the decider 1-0 to lift the trophy and collect the £10,000 top prize.

 

“I’m delighted with the way I’ve played throughout the tournament,” said Foster, who also won the event in 2008 and 2009.

 

“The final was my worse game with some good ends but some scrappy ones but I dug deep and am very happy to win it.

 

“Winning it for the first time is always going to be the most special but to come back and win it for the third time is amazing, especially with the quality of the players here.

 

“You always have butterflies in any match but I’ve played enough finals now to know to think just about the match and not about winning the title.

 

“Mark doesn’t show any nerves and I’ve played him so many times to know he’s a class player and if you don’t play well he will win.”

 

Royal, who was playing in his first overseas tournament, admitted he started to feel the pressure towards the climax of the match.

 

“It has been a fantastic week and I felt really relaxed throughout the game until the last two or three ends,” admitted Royal.

 

“I produced a particularly bad end but the extra end could’ve gone either way.

 

“The sun was in and out and I was struggling with the sun and the shadows the whole game, but there were nerves as well.”

 

“He tends to beat me every time he plays me but he is a great player so congratulations to him.”

 

This was the fourth staging of the Premier League Bowls and was held at the Athena Beach Hotel in Paphos, Cyprus.

 

Six of the game’s greatest players competed in a round-robin basis with the top four advancing to the next phase, although there was an extra incentive for the league winner as they advanced straight to the final.

 

Foster and Royal were first and second respectively, while Alex Marshall came third with Robert Weale fourth.

 

Marshall and Weale met in the first play-off and Marshall won 2-1, before he lost to Royal 2-1 in the semi-final.

 

 

PREMIER LEAGUE BOWLS FINAL DAY

Wednesday, October 5 LAST LEAGUE MATCHES Match 1 - MERVYN KING 1-1 MARK ROYAL (2-8, 7-4) Match 2 - ALEX MARSHALL 2-0 ROBERT WEALE (6-2, 5-3) Match 3 - PAUL FOSTER 1-1 KELVIN KERKOW (4-5, 3-2)

 

PLAY-OFF 1

Match 4 - ALEX MARSHALL (3rd) 2-1 ROBERT WEALE (4th) (play-off 1) (2-5, 5-2, 1-0)

 

SEMI-FINAL Match 5 - MARK ROYAL (2nd) 2-1 ALEX MARSHALL (Semi-final 2) (6-3, 4-8, 1-0)

 

FINAL Match 6 - PAUL FOSTER (1st) 2-1 MARK ROYAL (Final) (4-5, 9-3, 1-0)

Thanks to Paul Natzyl