Wentzel and Viljoen are bowls singles champions

Waylon Wentzel and Diana Viljoen were crowned Namibia’s singles bowls champions at the King Price National Bowls Week which concluded in Windhoek on Saturday.

Following a week-long tournament with more than 300 players throughout Namibia, Wentzel beat Christo de Beer in the men’s final, while Viljoen beat Michelle Crawford in the women’s final.

It was a very successful tournament for Viljoen, who won three titles in total, including the women’s trips category with teammates Bianca Lewis and Haley van Wyk, as well as the women’s fours category with Lewis, Elna Esterhuizen and Amy Peake.

Schalk van Wyk and Claude Thorburn won the men’s pairs title after beating Graham Snyman and Christo de Beer in the final, while Lesley Vermeulen and Marinda Bezuidenhout won the women’s pairs title after beating Marietjie van der Bergh and Susan Venter in the final.

The women’s fours competition went down to the wire, and the winners had to be determined on shot aggregate.

Diana Viljoen, Bianca Lewis, Elna Esterhuizen and Amy Peake finished on 12 points and +46 shot aggregate to pip Marietjie van den Bergh, Anjuleen Viljoen, Amanda Steenkamp and Susan Venter (12 points +34 shots) to the title.

Wentzel, Colin Peake, Freddie Fouche and JP Fouche won the men’s fours title after finishing three points ahead Schalk van Wyk, Dave Gibbons, Julian Viljoen and Gordon Damster.

Viljoen said they got off to a good start in the women’s trips final against Anjuleen Viljoen, Miranda Bezuidenhout and Amanda Steenkamp.

“In the trips I played with my sister Bianca Lewis and a very young bowler Haley van Wyk who is still at school, against very good opposition and an experienced team. We managed to get a good start and right from the beginning of the second end, we picked up a six, which is a full house in trips and that carried us through to win the gold medal,” she said.

Viljoen said it was a very successful tournament and that bowls is growing in Namibia and the rest of the world.

“The sport is becoming younger because it’s fresh. It’s not long white skirts, shirts and hats anymore, it’s really interesting with the clothing that they are wearing now – its become very modern. It’s becoming like that all over the world – women playing in short skirts like they would play tennis, so it makes it interesting for the younger players.

“It’s also growing in our country. At the nationals there was a great turnout for the Novice Singles, which is for players with less than three years’ experience; the greens were packed, and it was fantastic to see so many bowlers and new people who had only started playing recently,” she added.

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