A mix of youth and experience for Games Bowls Team

Commonwealth Games - Melbourne 2006

The Australian bowls team that will contest the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games is a balance of youth and experience.

The Australian Commonwealth Games Association announced the bowls team for the Games today (15/12), following an intensive three-day training camp at the State Lawn Bowls Centre in Melbourne.

The team includes Karen Murphy (NSW) and Roma Dunn (WA) who will both participate in their third Commonwealth Games. The average age of the men’s team is just 30 and the women’s side averages 38 years of age.

Reigning world indoor pairs champion Kelvin Kerkow (QLD) has secured the prestigious men’s singles position. Kerkow, who was Australia’s regular singles representative from 1995 through to 1998, will compete in his second Commonwealth Games after competing in Manchester in 2002.

The 2005 Australian indoor singles champion, Maria Rigby (NSW), has been selected in the coveted women’s singles position. An experienced international, Rigby won five of six singles games at the Trans Tasman Test Series earlier this year.

Young stars Barrie Lester (VIC) and Nathan Rice (QLD) have been selected to play their first Commonwealth Games in the men’s pairs.

Lester, 23, and Rice, 26, have enjoyed an outstanding 12 months winning the pairs final at the 2005 Helensvale Grand Prix and finishing runner-up in the pairs at the Moama Grand Prix.

Twenty-two-year-old Lynsey Armitage (QLD) and Karen Murphy (NSW), 30, will combine in the women’s pairs. The duo won a pairs gold medal at the Asia Pacific Bowls Championship in November.

Across 2005 the talented combination also secured the pairs title at the inaugural Moama Grand Prix and defeated New Zealand and Scotland in pairs matches in May.

Armitage will contest her first Commonwealth Games, while Murphy is a veteran of two previous campaigns, having won a fours silver medal in 1998 and silver in the singles in 2002.

Australian Open pairs and triples champion Bill Cornehls (QLD) will combine with Wayne Turley (NSW) and Mark Casey (QLD) in the men’s triples.

The trio will all be contesting their first Commonwealth Games with Cornehls playing lead, Sydney-based Turley playing second and Casey, the 2005 World Cup singles champion, skipping.

Previously in the Commonwealth Games the fours event was contested however this has now been replaced by the triples for both men and women.

Noi Tucker (QLD), Roma Dunn (WA) and Ceri Ann Davies (QLD) have been selected in the women’s triples.

Queensland-based Tucker was part of the state side that secured the 2005 National Round Robin, while Dunn — a dual Commonwealth Games representative — impressed selectors by winning the Australian Open in March.

The eldest member of the team is Dunn, who at 62 makes her third consecutive Games team. The West Australian has eight grandchildren and if she wins gold she will replace Dorothy Roche as Australia’s oldest Commonwealth Games gold medallist. Roche was 61 and 10 months when she won gold in the women’s fours in Auckland in 1990.

Twenty-seven-year-old Davies, a former Welsh representative, fought her way into the Commonwealth Games squad following her win in the triples final at the Moama Grand Prix.

In announcing the team, Australian Commonwealth Games Association CEO, Perry Crosswhite, said the bowls team has had an ideal preparation and will benefit from competing on a home green.

“As we witnessed in Manchester, where five nations shared the six gold medals on offer, the depth in bowls competition at the Games is spread across South Africa, Scotland, England, Malaysia, Northern Ireland, Wales and New Zealand.

“After the disappointment of Manchester, I am delighted with the preparation of this team. They have had an ideal lead-up and have maximised the home-ground advantage at the Darebin International Sports Centre where they will definitely know the green like the back of their hand by the time of the Games,” Mr. Crosswhite said.

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester Karen Murphy won a silver medal in the women’s singles and the men’s singles, pairs and fours along with women’s pairs combinations were defeated in the quarter finals.

In other Commonwealth Games news today;

Victorians Irena Olevsky and Dannielle Liesch will attempt to achieve what no Australian Synchronised Swimmers have done before by winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Australian synchronised swimmers have an excellent record in Commonwealth Games competition; however the gold medal in solo or duet competition has remained the domain of the powerful Canadian swimmers, who will once again be the strong favourites in Melbourne.

Canada has won every solo and duet gold medal since the introduction of synchronised swimming to the Commonwealth Games program in Edinburgh in 1986.

Combining endurance, strength, flexibility and coordination with finely honed technical skills, a strong creative streak, and the ability to interpret music, synchronised swimmers have the aerobic capacity of long distance runners and the flexibility of gymnasts.

Australia has competed at all Commonwealth Games events since synchronised swimming was introduced in 1986 bringing home at least one medal at each Games – our best result coming from Naomi Young in the solo and Young and Irena Olevsky in the duet with silver in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Olevsky, who works at Ernst and Young, returns to international competition after three years out of the sport and Liesch, who works at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre as a swimming school supervisor, will make her Commonwealth Games debut.

Fellow Victorian Luda Plotnikova is the team reserve for the duet event.

Competition at the Games is conducted as straight finals, with technical and free routines in both solo and duet competition determining the medallists. Solo competition will be held on Saturday 18 March with the duet event the following day.

In announcing the team, Australian Commonwealth Games Association CEO, Perry Crosswhite, said the synchronised swimmers would face a huge challenge to break the Canadian domination.

“The Canadians have been number one since 1986 and the New Zealanders have done a lot of training in Canada to benefit from their expertise, so they will also be tough. We certainly hope that we can continue our medal winning efforts in previous Games,” Crosswhite said.