Champ in dodgy spot

ALISON MERRIEN'S hopes of retaining the Women's World Cup at the Warilla Bowls Club in New South Wales took a dive yesterday.

The Guernsey (pictured) star suffered defeats at the hands of two her biggest rivals, although ironically, that might save her bacon.

That situation arises because top Scot Lynn Stein and Fijian Litia Tikoisuva are both expected to qualify, so that Merrien might be happy to trail in their wake and still make the cut.

But it does mean that she cannot afford to drop another point and she needs desperately to win her last three matches - against Norfolk Islander Debbie Wilford, Elisa Cheung from China and Jue Carlo of Papua New Guinea.

And, in doing so, she will be attempting to boost her shots credit in her group, in case qualification for the knockout stage depends on shots countback.

Merrien opened the day with a highly profitable 11-5, 15-3 straight sets win over Jung Kim from Korea, but she slipped up against Stein, who returned an 8-4, 10-4 card, and then against Tikoisuva, who won a close contest, 7-6, 8-8.

As for husband Ian Merrien, he continued to do well in the men's event, though he stayed, for the present, just outside the frame for the last eight.