BOWLS: Record entry for Under 13s tournament at Thornfield

Under 13s Open Singles 2019

The Open Under 13s Singles ran by Darren Wheeler and hosted by Rugby Thornfield Indoor Bowls Club entered its third year, a record 28 juniors took part. The players were split into seven groups of four with the top two progressing to the knock out stage.

Group one came down to shot difference with both Josh Sanders and Kieran Smith finishing with 20 points, Kieran taking first place with a +11 difference compared to Josh’s +8. Matthew Murphy finished third with 10 points (shot difference -2) and Lacey Whitehurst also had 10 points but a -17 shot difference. Who would win group two was decided by the final round match between Charlie Beeton and Ailish Sheehan, both had won their opening games, Charlie edged the game to take top spot with 30 points, Ailish second with 20 both Izzy Pymm and Conner Povey finished with 10 points, Izzy taking third place with a +2 shot difference to Conner’s -22.

Group three also came down to a final decider, Samual Brugnoli getting the better of Jake Pankhurst to finish on 30 points, with Jake on 20. Maisie Porter finished third with 10 points while Edward Higham lost all his games. In group four Tegan Grewal completed a clean sweep, gaining all 30 points, Callum Smith was second with 20 points, third went to Caitlin Farey with 10 points and Mia Fox was bottom with 0 points. Group five was another to be decided by the final game, Owen Aspinall beating Ellie Ramsell to finish with 30 points, Owen on 20. Tyler Chambers took third spot with 10 points with Jayden Smith completing the group with 0 points.

The winner of group 6 came down to which of the two unrelated Russells won the opening encounter, Rhianna Russell won that game and won the group with 30 points. Lucy Russell had to be content with second place, Scarlett Essex (10 points) came third ahead of Abbie Bird (0 points). Defending champion Alfie Knight took group 7 with three wins, second place was decided on shot difference as Tyler King and Josh Toon drew their final game, it as Josh who finished with 0 shot difference compared to -11 for Tyler, both having 15 points, Rhiannon Boyd Hope finished with 0 points.

With their only being 14 players through to the final stages, it meant that two players would get byes through to the quarter finals, Charlie Beeton and Rhianna Russell. Ailish Sheehan booked her passage through to face Charlie Beeton with a 7-2 victory over Keiran Smith, Russells opponent would be Josh Toon who knocked out Callum Smith 12-0. Tegan Grewal and Josh Sanders went down to wire, Tegan just winning 5-4. The other last 16 results were Owen Aspinall 13-1 Lucy Russell, Samual Brugnoli 8-2 Ellie Ramsell and Alfie Knight 8-1 Jake Pankhurst.

The quarter finals saw two pretty one sided encounters, Charlie Beeton 16-1 Ailish Sheehan and Rhianna Russell 8-0 Josh Toon. After four ends Owen Aspinall and Samual Brugnoli were tied three all, Owen took the fifth end on a tight measure and needed another tight measure to book his passage 5-3. In the remaining quarter Alfie Knight scored two on the fifth end to turn his game with Tegan Grewal into a one end shoot out, with one bowl left Alfie held shot but Tegan bowled with weight, taking out the shot wood without moving the jack to win 4-3. Unfortunately the semi finals were a round too far for Tegan as Rhianna Russell defeated her 12-0. In the other semi the scores between Charlie Beeton and Owen Aspinall were level after four ends, Charlie took the fifth end with a shot and then took all four shots on the final end to win 9-4. After a day of excellent bowling the final was a bit of an anticlimax, Rhianna Russell struggled to match Charlie Beeton, Charlie taking the 2019 title with an 11-0 victory.