Triples Claim Gold in Christchurch

The South African women’s triples team has claimed South Africa’s only gold medal in Christchurch, New Zealand,
after beating Australia
in the 2008 World Bowls Championships divisional title earlier on Sunday.

Sylvia Burns, Loraine Victor and Lorna Trigwell battled
against the odds in a tournament featuring a much higher standard of play than
was expected, and their determination to return home with the sole gold medal
for South Africa was evident in cool heads early one.

The three South Africans started with points on the first
three ends before a younger Australian team of Julie Keegan, Kelsey Cottrell
and Claire Duke got onto the scoreboard, and resumed with four points in the next
three ends for an 8-1 lead after seven ends.

After boosting their chances with three points at the 13th end
for a 13-5 advantage, the Australians courageously came back with a match-high
score of four points at the 14th end, but it turned out to be too little too
late, as the South African women stormed down the final straight to a 15-11
final winning margin.

After finishing third in the early tournament round-robin section
play, the South African triples team had to beat Namibia
and Ireland in consecutive
matches to qualify for the quarter-finals, and followed it up with victories
over Malaysia and New Zealand, to reach the finals against Australia.

South Africa finishes the tournament in fifth
place on the medals table, a tenth-place finish in the Women’s Singles added to
a ninth in the Pairs, and eighth place in the Fours, while the men’s teams finishes
were fifth in Singles, and sixth, twelfth and fourth in the remaining
categories respectively.