2004 heroes lose world title to Dutch pair

HEROES a year earlier, Guernsey's Neal Mollet and Alison Merrien yesterday suffered a shock defeat in the first round of their world mixed pairs title defence in Belfast. The Sarnian duo suffered a totally unexpected defeat at the hands of rank outsiders Holland.

After Amsterdam's Wim van Belzen and Guurtje Ros-Copier had returned an 11-4, 8-8 scorecard, a dejected Mollet said: 'It just wasn't there this year. It just didn't feel the same.'

Merrien added: 'We were caught cold as the conditions altered and the speed of the carpet changed, but it was the same for both pairs and they deserved to win because they played very well.'

The Guernsey duo were never in the first set, but they seemed to have turned the corner in the second set and looked set to win when they established an 8-3 lead with only three ends left to play.

The Dutch duo, with their skip in particularly good form, hit back with a treble on the seventh end and took singles on the last two ends to tie the set, which was good enough to seal victory.

After Merrien produced great bowls to save counts, and had the rub of the green on one occasion, spectators nodded wisely and agreed that the holders had weathered the storm. But it was not to be.

Merrien later made amends by beating Ros-Copier in straight sets in the women's singles, though the 44-year-old Dutch competitor showed plenty of spirit before the Guernsey star prevailed 8-5, 7-3.

In the men's singles, Nicky Donaldson lost in a tie-break to Israel's Raymond Sher, who won the first set 8-6, before Donaldson levelled with an 8-4 win in the second.

Tiebreaks, in which ends won (not shots scored) are the deciding factor, are notoriously tense and are a bit of a lottery, and the Israeli stormed to victory winning two successive ends.