It’s all over. A fantastic World Bowl 2016 tournament concluded on Sunday with the Men’s singles final followed by the medal presentations and the closing ceremony.
On Friday I had an easy afternoon session as a scoreboard
attendant, keeping the scoreboard up to date on the South Africa v Australia
Women’s Triples which was an entertaining game going the full distance with an
extra end.
 |
| Christchurch Botanical Gardens |
Saturday, I had a day off but attended a Laws Committee meeting
in the morning. The World Bowls Laws Committee is responsible for maintaining
the Laws and development aspects of the world governing body and we had a
number of topics to discuss at the meeting. We will now go away and work in
more detail on some of those topics. In the afternoon I took the bus into the
city with my umpiring colleague Angie Thompson. It gave us a chance to see
again the devastation caused by the 2011 earthquake and to visit bits that I
did not see the first time.
 |
| "185 Chairs" Memorial to those that lost their lives in 2011 |
And so to Sunday. There was torrential rain over night and the morning team awoke to find the greens at the Burnside Club underwater. Play was suspended for 45 minutes whilst the greens team worked hard to clear the water and prepare the TV rink for play. I had a leisurely morning, relaxed, had a late breakfast and made my way to the venue at 11:00 in preparation for the 1pm singles final.
The final itself was a great game between Shannon McIlroy
from New Zealand and Ryan Bester of Canada. It was not too taxing as neither
played asked too many questions. I felt I performed well and indeed comments
from my colleagues and World Bowls officials were very positive. Shannon can
out the winner and the World Champion which also put the New Zealand Team ahead
in the Team Championship.
Sunday evening we enjoyed mingling with the many players and
officials and volunteers at a cocktail evening. Good laugh and a great chance
to wind down.
 |
| Homeward bound from Auckland |
It has been a great tournament and I have been pleased with
my duties and the way I have worked with the team.
If you are interested, the video of the final and other
matches can be found on the World Bowls 2016 You Tube channel
My next event will be the World Indoor Championships at Potters Leisure Resort at the end of January. Until next time, many thanks for reading my blog and for your kind comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment