Twining Ties Up Twin Titles
Sam Twining of Maitland City captured two of three titles when the NSW Under 18 State Lawn Bowls Championships were played at Warilla last week, the 12th year that Warilla BC has sponsored and hosted the Championships.
The titles bring together the winners of Junior Singles, Pairs and Fours competition from the 16 bowling Zones of NSW to vie for the honour of becoming the NSW Champion.
The 17 year old began the week in fine style, taking the prestigious singles title when he defeated his good friend Matt McIntyre (West Dubbo) 31-19 in the final. The friendship between the two was evident, with the final played in great spirit, but neither player was willing to concede an easy shot. Superb conversion shots proved the difference in the match, with Twining consistently producing winning bowls when under pressure.
Twining secured his second title when he combined with Riley Wells (Maitland City), Brodie Jobson (East Cessnock) and Jake Lawton (East Maitland) to take out the NSW Under 18 Fours Championship.
In the final the Zone 6 (Hunter) combination defeated the Zone 1 (Far North Coast) quartet of Jacob Heffernan (East Lismore), Jacob Speers (East Lismore), Reece Wilson (Ballina) and Aaron Teys (Ballina) 21-17.
Twining’s four took control of the final in the early stages before a great recovery from Teys saw the lead reduced to two shots with two ends remaining. The title was confirmed when Twining’s boys won on both of those ends.
Chris O'Neill (Nth Tamworth) and Mitch Austin (Kootingal) won the 2008 NSW U18 State Pairs Championship, beating Central Coast pair Josh Beddow (Halekulani) and Ben Bourne (Terrigal) 23-16 in the final.
Austin and O’Neill have tasted success at State level before, being part of the combination that took the NSW U18 Fours title in 2007 and were the form pair of the event. They emerged from a strong section that included NSW Representatives Suzana Stojcevska, Jesse Noronha (both Warilla) and Aaron Teys (Ballina). After a close win over the Warilla pair, they thumped Teys 28-1 and then had a comfortable 9 shot win to finish unbeaten in their section. O’Neill and Austin enjoyed a comfortable 30-12 victory over Birrong’s Ethan Tierney and Josh Hughes in their Semi Final.
Beddow and Bourne also finished unbeaten in their section and ended Zone 6’s dreams of a clean sweep of the titles when they beat Mitchell Townes (Tuncurry) and Dominic Riley (Taree West) 21-18 in the Semi Final.
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Here for Singles Results
Thanks to rnswba