Namibia’s National Bowls Week reaches its climax tomorrow when the finals will be held at the Eros Bowling Club.
Namibia’s top bowlers from all over the country have been in action throughout the week competing in singles, pairs, trips and fours, and after several upsets, especially in the men’s competition, this year’s national champions will be crowned tomorrow.
In the men’s singles competition the defending champion Waylon Wentzel suffered a shock first round defeat against the young Dihan Calitz, who only started playing bowls quite recently.
Calitz is the son of Namibia’s famed bowler Douw Calitz, who made history in 2003 when he became the first, and so far only, Namibian bowler to win the World Singles Champions of Championships title.
What made Dihan’s victory even more special was the fact that he played with the same woods that his father used when he beat Darren Burnett of Scotland to win the world title in 2003.
Dihan, however, was knocked out in the next round by Freddie Fouche, but he kept the family bowling tradition going strong by teaming up with his father and grandfather, Jurie, in the men’s trips competition.
Another young up and coming bowler from Swakopmund, AJ Visser has been in great form, reaching the men’s singles final after knocking out some of the favourites along the way. He beat Dave Gibbons and Gordon Damster to reach the semis where he beat the former national champion Kat Steenkamp 21-15 to reach the final.
Visser will now face another former singles champion Axel Krahenbuhl in the final after the latter beat Jakkie Nel, and Julian Viljoen to reach the semis, where he beat Piet du Plooy 21-13.
After his first round exit, Wentzel went on a winning streak in the Plate division for first round losers to reach the final where he will face Damster. In the semis, Wentzel beat Jakkie Nel 21-7, while Damster beat Karl Hartmann 21-18.
Krahenbuhl, meanwhile, will have a second chance of winning silverware after he also reached the men’s pairs final along with Julian Viljoen. They will take on Schalk van Wyk and Claude Thorburn in tomorrow’s final.
In the women’s singles, the defending champion Diana Viljoen from Swakopmund is once again through to the final where she will face another former champion Marietjie van den Bergh. Both bowlers have been in great form and a close final can be expected.
In the women’s pairs competition, Michelle Crawford and Annelien Langenstrassen from Swakopmund will take on Anjuleen Viljoen and Lesley Vermeulen in the final.
Crawford and Langenstrassen just managed to reach the final after beating beat Viljoen and Danelle van Wyk 11-10 in a thrilling semifinal, while Viljoen and Vermeulen beat Van den Bergh and Yvonne Carstens in the other semi.
The men and women’s trips and fours competitions were still in progress with the finalists yet to be determined.
Earlier in the week the first medals of the Bowls Week were won when the novice and veterans categories were completed.
In the novice category, Jackie Nel won the men’s title and Dinah Human the women’s title, while in the veteran’s category, Dave Gibbons won the men’s title and Truda Meaden the women’s title.
