Following the lifting of Covid19 restrictions World Bowls and the IIBC held the first major indoor championships, sixty four bowlers from twenty nine different countries took part in the event hosted by the Bristol Club.
Robert Chisholm, Kerry Packwood, and Amy Williams represented Wales.
The competition was made up of a men’s singles, ladies singles and mixed pairs events with the first three days being in groups with a round robin format and the best of two sets with a tie break if required.
Men’s Group 3.
Robert Chisholm beat Mark McGreal from the Isle of Man 2 – 0.
Robert Chisholm beat Benson Wambuga from Kenya 2 – 0.
Robert Chisholm beat Mohammed Ayyub Qureshri from Pakistan 2 – 0.
Ladies Group 2.
Amy Williams beat Megan Kivlin from Jersey 2 – 0.
Amy Williams beat Genevieve Delves from Australia 2 – 1, tie break
Amy Williams beat Marae Modutlwa from Botswana 2 – 0.
Ladies Group 3.
Kerry Packwood beat Devon Cooper from England 2 – 0.
Kerry Packwood beat Ruth Galor from Israel 2 – 0.
Kerry Packwood beat May Lee from Singapore 2 – 0.
All three players topped their groups undefeated and progressed to the last sixteen.
Robert Chisholm beat Zohar Motiwala from Singapore 2 -0.
Amy Williams beat Marietta Van Den Bergh from Namibia 1.5 – 0.5.
Kerry Packwood beat Saskia Schaft from Netherlands 2 – 0.
Quarter Finals.
Robert Chisholm came up against the current champion Stuart Anderson from Scotland and in a high-quality match Robert could not match the outstanding Anderson losing 2 – 0.
Kerry Packwood played Sandra Bailie from Ireland losing the first set 7 – 6 and tying the second set 7 – 7 to be eliminated by the smallest of margins.
Amy Williams played Devon Cooper who had previously lost to Kerry Packwood, her performance in this match was much improved and with the match level at 1 – 1 the tie break came into operation, some outstanding bowling saw her take the tie break and progress to the semi-final 2 – 1.
In the semi-final Amy played former World Champion Julie Forrest and could not get to grips with a very tough opponent losing 2 – 0 in a high-quality match.
In the mixed pairs Robert and Kerry lost in the quarter-finals to the Scottish pair of C Anderson and M Stephney whilst Amy who was paired with Olle Backgren from Sweden only just missed a quarter-final spot.
The tournament overall was a great success for the Welsh Bowlers involved with the three of them giving good showing and proving that with support from Bowls Wales we can compete with the best in the World.
Our congratulations go to Amy Williams for winning a bronze medal at the championships.
