‘A fantastic achievement again’ - Merrien sweeps CI finals
Alison Merrien achieved a perfect haul of four titles at the home Channel Islands Finals last weekend.
Merrien won the CI women’s singles silverware with a dominant performance, beating Jersey’s Megan Kivlin 21-7, to finish off a fantastic weekend where she also contributed to victories in the pairs, triples and fours at the Indoor Bowls Centre.
In the pairs, she had partnered Shirley Petit to beat Lindsey Greechan and Gina Le Long 28-14.
The triples added U25 Catherine Bonsall to the Guernsey equation and the hosts took that one 19-8, while the fours brought in Rose Ogier for a team that triumphed 24-12.
Although Merrien has won all four previously, she was in no mood to be complacent against Jersey.
‘It was a fantastic achievement again,’ she said.
‘Jersey are great opponents and you never know – it’s on the day.
‘Home advantage helps. Our greens are running at a different speed to theirs.’
She described all four finals as ‘fairly good games’, with the scoreline not always telling the full story, and also praised her successful teammates.
‘We have been playing together for a number of years now and we have gelled – we know each other’s game.’
The woman who won the Island Games triples with Petit and Bonsall added: ‘We’ve had some great games and we want to continue to improve on that really – hopefully when we go to the British Isles.’
The British Isles Championships take place in Chelmsford from 11-13 March and, given her absence from Potters Green this month, look to be Merrien’s main off-island target for the year.
Overall, Guernsey achieved a narrow majority over the weekend by winning six of the 11 titles available.
That included Gary Pitschou, Dave King, Martyn de Carteret and Mike Le Noury winning the men’s veterans fours 28-18.
On the other end of the spectrum, there was an U25 singles triumph for 16-year-old Brad Le Noury, who took down Jersey’s Taylor Greechan 21-14. Greechan also went in the men’s singles for Jersey and beat Pitschou for the title.
Le Noury will return to action this weekend for the BIIBC Mixed U18 Championships in Wales.
He will be representing the multi-national British Lions team in the singles, while fellow Sarnian Marcus Rihoy goes in the pairs and fours.
