Indoor singles honour

DANIEL DE LA MARE emerged as worthy winner of the Guernsey Indoor Bowling Association 2004 Champion of Champions singles. De la Mare had to be on top form to get past Alison Merrien and Nick Donaldson to take the title.

The former world champion beat Craig Dorey 21-9 in the preliminary round, but lost out to de la Mare in the quarter-finals when, on the final end, she drove at the head and removed her own bowl, leaving de la Mare with three shots and two feet to draw another, which he did.

De la Mare then defeated Lianna Bichard, who had knocked out brother Kris in the quarters, despite the fact that his opponent, also his girlfriend, took a convincing early lead.

De la Mare battled back from 15-4 and then 19-17 down to win 21-19.

In the final, he took on Donaldson in what started as a very evenly balanced encounter with the scores being level at 12-all at 11 ends. However, de la Mare began to stamp his authority on the game and managed to subdue his normally very talkative opponent.

He reached 21 shots with six singles and two doubles for the loss of only one single.

De la Mare can be proud of a very mature performance against Donaldson, who had just returned in a rich vein of form from the World Indoor Bowls Council singles championships in Belfast.

The beaten finalist had overwhelmed Garry Collins 21-1 in the quarters and eliminated Steve Desperques 21-14 in the semis.

Eunice Trebert presented the Ken Thompson Memorial Trophy.