Good start in indoor title hunt

By David Rhys Jones

Lianna Bichard.

WHILE Alison Merrien gaining another world title in New South Wales this morning, three more Guernsey bowlers were sleeping off a good opening day in south Wales, where the WIBC world indoor championships got under way in Swansea.
Lianna Bichard, who won the British under-25 singles title in Llanelli last month, and her partner – on and off the green – Dan de la Mare, got through to the quarter-finals of the mixed pairs, beating a highly experienced Malaysian duo, Azlina Arshad and Syed Mohamad, 8-8, 13-4.

Sadly, both players lost in their opening matches in the singles and, although de la Mare bounced back to beat Mohamad for the second time in one day, Bichard suffered another defeat at the hands of Welsh-born Aussie Ceri Ann Davies.

But it was Steve Desperques who claimed the biggest scalps of the day, winning both his matches in fine style.

The WIBC ordained that he should team up with South African PBA star Eileen Burt and the two, who had not met until this week, combined effectively to beat Irish duo Sally MacAuley and Barry Kane, 5-7, 8-7, 2-1 in an exciting encounter.

At 4-7 in the second set, prospects looked bleak for Burt and Desperques, but they notched up a treble on the penultimate end and broke a 7-7 deadlock with a single on the last end of the set, then always held the advantage on the tiebreak.

Desperques’ 3-11, 9-2, 2-0 victory over Welsh Champion of Champions title holder Daniel Gough was a game of two halves – and an outstanding achievement.