GUERNSEY’S battling bowler Matt Le Ber is out to prove a point in the British Isles men’s outdoor bowls championships, which get under way at the Belmont club in Belfast today.

With one eye on the possibility of selection for the Commonwealth Games, Le Ber knows that a good performance in Ireland could earn him a passage to India in 2010 – and he will certainly be going for gold.

Ironically, Le Ber (pictured), who is only 24, has been penalised for his success – after enjoying his most productive season yet in the summer of 2008.

Winning four Guernsey titles, he qualified, in theory, to compete for four British titles – but the rules allow him to enter only two, so he had a painful choice to make.

‘First of all, I felt it was important to play in the senior singles, so I reluctantly dropped out of the junior event,’ Le Ber said yesterday.

‘Then, of course, Daniel [de la Mare] and I had won the pairs four years ago – the last time the event was held in Belfast, so there was a special reason for wanting to play in that one,’ he added.