Merrien can only watch

MONEY and a lack of time have kept local world bowls champion Alison Merrien off the television this month. She has played against many of the women involved in the Potter's Holidays Mixed Pairs World Matchplay Champio-nships, running in Norfolk until the weekend.

The event, organised by the World Bowls Tour, has been receiving live television coverage on the BBC and Eurosport.

But Merrien will wait until April for another crack at world glory in the Alfa Romeo WIBC Championships in Belfast.

She is not a member of the Professional Bowls Associa-tion and said she could not afford the time, or the money, to spend weeks qualifying for the organisation's three big tournaments each year.

'I'd have to travel somewhere in the UK and spend two weeks to try and qualify for these events and bear the cost of getting there and staying there for two weeks before even getting into these competitions,' she said.

'Basically, I just didn't have the time to do it.'

The mixed pairs event - the equivalent title which Merrien won with Neal Mollet last April - is currently under way.

The women's singles competition in Hopton-on-Sea attracted only eight invited players, she said.