Sarnians' poor start sticks with tradition

GUERNSEY had a terrible opening day at the World Under-25 Indoor Championships for the second year running. Daniel de la Mare and Lianna Bichard, bowling on their home carpet at the Guernsey Indoor Bowls Stadium, were yesterday both knocked out of the mixed pairs before going onto lose their first of their respective singles matches.

That mirrored their first day from last year's championships in Jersey where they also lost all of their matches.

'We're keeping up the tradition,' joked de la Mare.

It was not quite a laughing matter for the 19-year-old, however, as he lost narrowly to England's Mark Dawes 5-4, 5-4 in his singles encounter.

'It was a nice, close game,' he said.

'I wasn't firing on all cylinders and in the first set it was a case of too little, too late. He forced me to play on the run and in the second I got off to a better start but again he forced the same result.

'Some you win, some you lose and it was the first game of the tournament.'

His opponent got off to a better start in the first going 3-1 up and then onto 5-2.

The Sarnian hit back in reply but left his charge too late as he ran out of ends.

The Englishman again got off stronger in the second and by the last end he was 5-3 up with the jack surrounded by three of his woods.

With the pressure on de la Mare with two woods left, he fired one down that missed the mark and when Dawes could not add to his score, the home player had another bite at the cherry to get three shots.

This time he hit, but the jack ricocheted out wide and when it was replaced back into play, he unluckily had only one wood close enough to count.

Bichard was next up in her singles match with Intan Kamarauzaman, one of the five-strong Malaysian contingent to make the long journey.

It was the visitor who began sharper, taking a 3-0 lead after two ends.

But Bichard gathered her game to bounce back and win the first set 6-4.

The Sarnian's momentum did not carry through to the second, however, as her opponent near enough blew her off the rink winning 10-4.

Onto the tie-break and with things going Kamarauzaman's way it was no surprise that she took it 2-0 and claimed the match.

'The first set went pretty well but I struggled in the second as I was struggling to find rhythm,' said Bichard.

'I didn't play my normal game and I hope to do better tomorrow.'

Her opponents could not be harder as she faces this year's under-25 British Isles champion and runner-up, Sian Gordon from England and Ireland's Catherine McMillan respectively.

'I haven't played Sian before and Catherine I've never beaten but we've had good games,' said Bichard.

'They will be tough and it will be make or break.

'These two are the favourites to go through from my group, so I have got to beat one or both to stand a chance to go through.'

In the mixed doubles, where bowlers from different countries are matched up together, de la Mare found himself with Malaysian Norshafeenaz Yahya and Bichard with Welshman Gavin Abrahams.

Both pairs failed to get any success against strong opposition. De la Mare and Yahya lost to the defending champions.