Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia’s bowlers may have come home empty-handed from the Atlantic Senior Fours competition in Cyprus, but the experience gained at the World Bowls-sanctioned tournament has whetted their appetite for a return visit in two years’ time.
The Constantinou Bros Athena Beach Hotel, in Paphos, was the stunning venue for two weeks of bowls, with 20 nations from around the world competing for glory in the men’s fours, women’s fours and mixed fours at an event backed by Cyprus’ Deputy Ministry of Tourism, with Bowls Cyprus members putting in an inordinate amount of time to get the festival up and running.
In what is now the leading bowls event for seniors on the planet – players have to be aged 55 and over – Namibia sent a men’s rink of Petrus du Plooy, Michael Rumsey, Karl Hartmann and Johannes Jacobs, while the women consisted of Val Gallagher – who only knew of her participation two weeks before – Herriette Partridge, Antoinette du Plooy and Truda Meaden.
“It was definitely a well organised event and a good experience for the players,” said Jacobs, who has participated at World Championships, African States and the Atlantic Championship, so knows a thing or two about big tournaments.
“For six of our players, it was the first time at an international tournament – it was great for them and they want to come back.”
On their selection process, Jacobs explained: “We put our names down for selection, but there were only eight people who could go – one player withdrew two weeks before the tournament began, with another lady (Val Gallagher) standing in as a late replacement. She did very well as she’s 78 years old.”
Men and women both finish ninth
The men finished ninth in Section 2 of the round-robin phase, picking up wins over Israel B (22-6), Jersey B (18-12) and Switzerland (16-8). Indeed, after five rounds – which included a bye in round three – Namibia had won three and lost narrowly to eventual winners Scotland and were eyeing a surprise run to the finals.
Unfortunately, they then lost 23-8 to Wales B, 17-12 to Zimbabwe, 24-11 to Australia and 17-14 against Canada A. Further defeats followed against Cyprus A (11-21), England B (4-26) and the defending champions from England (9-17), with their final match against the Isle of Man scrapped due to the weather.
Meanwhile, the women finished ninth in Section 1 of their event, securing wins over the Czech Republic (14-13) and Canada A (13-9), but suffering losses to England B (6-25), Jersey A (3-35), Israel (10-22), Norfolk Island (6-14), Scotland A (7-27) and USA (11-12).
Sadly, their participation was cut short, losing their last two matches against Wales and Cyprus A due to the tournament being moved inside to the six-rink indoor arena thanks to torrential rain that made the outside greens unplayable. Organisers then just focused on the teams with something to play for, so if you weren’t in the running for a top-two spot, then your remaining match or matches were annulled.
Once the men and women’s events were over, attention turned to the mixed rinks, with Namibia A featuring Gallagher, Antoinette du Plooy, Hartmann and Jacobs, while the B team was made up of Petrus du Plooy, Partridge, Rumsey and Meaden.
It was Jacobs’ A team that fared the best, topping Section 13 of the round-robin stage after first beating Canada B 17-11 and then enjoying a terrific 15-10 victory over a strong Ireland B side that included two of the winners from the Women’s Fours competition.
That put them into the Mixed Cup event – for winners of their respective sections – but they then fell to a 20-11 defeat to South Africa B to bow out at the first knockout stage. Scotland B were the eventual winners.
Namibia B finished bottom of Section 10, losing 28-6 to Australia B and then suffering a narrow 19-16 loss to the team made up of Guernsey, Ireland and Wales.
Meaden’s troops then headed to the Mixed Bowl where they suffered an agonising 14-9 reverse to Cyprus B, with Isle of Man B going on to win the competition.
Last word goes to Jacobs, who added: “The greens were very different for us, although I played here some years ago. They (the Namibian team) have never experienced surfaces like this before. It was very fast for us as we normally play on grass – there are just two greens back home with artificial grass.”
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