Roundup of III Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling
Championship
During the inaugural
Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championship held
in Stirling, Scotland in 2002 an association
of national Federations representing numerous
Commonwealth countries was formed with the
specific goal of staging biennial Commonwealth
Championships that will ultimately meld into
the official Commonwealth Games program.
Following the second successful
Championship held in Cyprus, national
Federations from all three geographic Zones of
the sport sent officials and teams of 2 men
and 2 women to compete in this year’s event,
hosted by Tenpin Bowling Australia in
Melbourne.
Gold, Silver and Bronze medals,
officially endorsed by the international
Commonwealth Games Federation, were awarded in
Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Teams and
Masters events. Following CGF guidelines, the
All-Events winners were recognised with
trophies, and a stunning new perpetual Award –
the TRIPLE DIAMOND PERPETUAL TROPHY – was
awarded to the highest aggregate Team pinfall
in All-Events.
The III CTBC was launched with
a spectacular Opening Ceremony featuring a
march-out of Teams from the 16 competing
countries:- Australia, Bahamas, Brunei
Darussalam, Canada, Cyprus, England,
Gibraltar, Guernsey, India, Jersey, Malaysia,
Malta, New Zealand, Northern Ireland,
Scotland and Wales.
As key speaker at the Opening, Commonwealth
Games triple Gold-medallist, Cara Honeychurch,
shared her memories of the glorious success,
and future potential of Bowling on the program
of the Commonwealth Games.
Joining Cara at the Opening
proceedings was a group of national and
international VIP’s including the Honorary
Medical Advisor to the Commonwealth Games
Federation, Dato Dr. M. Jegathesan from
Malaysia, President of the Australian
Commonwealth Games Association, Sam Coffa, AM,
Secretary-General of FIQ, Dr. Danny Santos
from The Philippines, President of the
Commonwealth Games Federation, Julian Pace-Bonello
from Malta and members of the CTBF Executive
Committee, plus officials from TBA and the
Championship Organising Committee.
Messages were read on behalf of
the President of the World Tenpin Bowling
Association, Mr. Heikki Sarso from Finland and
the President of the American Zone of FIQ/WTBA,
Mr. Jose Guandique from El Salvador. The
Mayor of Hobson’s Bay City, Cr. Carl Marsich,
welcomed visitors to the city and officially
declared the Championship open after rolling
the first ball at Altona’s OzTenpin Bowl.
Inspired by the motto coined by
the WTBA President – “EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT
TO BOWL” - the III CTBF Championship began on
a light-hearted note following the Welcome
Reception that concluded the Opening
ceremony. Under the supervision of Tournament
Manager, Peter Coburn, an international
line-up of Coaches, Managers and some
unofficial officials took to the lanes, after
accepting the challenge of a single game
contest with the ultimate level playing field
– house shoes and a house ball. The Officials
& Others event entertained bowlers and
visitors alike with a unique combination of
skill, and vaudeville and Jersey’s Jim Le Lion
emerged as the 2006 O & O champion.
Monday, 3rd July,
saw the Championship begin in earnest,
commencing with the Men’s and Women’s Singles
events, bowled on Long Oil, and bowlers from
five Commonwealth countries shared medal glory
on Day One of the III CTBC.
26 year-old Jon Zadel from
England’s Midlands struck Gold in the first
event with a total of 1314 for the 6-game
block, including the Men’s event High Game of
244. Bahama’s national champion, Sonith
Lockhart won the Silver, the first medal for
The Bahamas in the history of the Commonwealth
Championships, with a 1253 score while
Australia’s George Frilingos from Brisbane
pipped George Lambert IV from Canada to clinch
the Bronze by a single pin to finish on 1247.
Defending CTBF Singles
champion, Ann Maree Putney marked her
supremacy in the Women’s Singles event with a
220.50 average, including High Game honours
of 258 and a 1323 pinfall, overtaking the
earlier benchmark set in the Men’s division by
Jon Zadel.
The Gold medal performance by
Putney was an uncanny repeat result from the
Singles event at the previous Commonwealth
Championship in Cyprus, with Caroline Lagrange
from Canada winning Silver for the second
time, just 34 pins behind Putney on 1289… an
even closer result than the 67 margin in
Cyprus. Choy Poh Lai from Malaysia took
Bronze, a mere 9 pins behind Lagrange on
1280.
The Short Oil pattern on Day 2
of the III CTBC was “very demanding”,
“mentally exhausting” and “not very forgiving”
according to comments from players interviewed
at the completion of the Women’s Doubles.
The England duo of Katie Jowsey
from Wakefield and Fiona Banks from Sheffield
top-scored with a combined pinfall of 2419 to
take England’s second Gold medal at the
Championship, while sisters Sue Abela and
Melissa Anastasi from Malta won Silver with
2349, in a popular return to the podium after
their Bronze medal performance in the Doubles
event in Scotland in 2002. The ladies were
born in Melbourne before returning to Malta
with their family as youngsters and attracted
an enthusiastic throng of local supporters in
their first return visit to Australia for more
than 20 years. Australia’s Ann Maree Putney
and Tracey Madden finished strongly on 2286 to
overtake the Canadian pair of Jennifer
Willis-Park and Caroline Lagrange for the
Bronze.
In the Men’s division,
Malaysia’s Doubles team of Mohd Noer Said and
Isaac Russell stormed home in the final two
games to clinch Gold, with Mohd Noer Said’s
265 in the final game overtaking the 1-game
record set by England’s Nick Froggatt at the
inaugural Commonwealth Championship in
Scotland in 2002.
Both Mohd Noer Said and
Australia’s George Frilingos shot 1324, and
Frilingos’ partnership with Australia’s
top-ranked Youth bowler, Glen Loader, produced
a Silver medal tally of 2519, just 27 pins
behind the Malaysian duo. Another strong
finish by England’s Dominic Barrett and Jon
Zadel resulted in a thrilling tie for Bronze
with the New Zealand duo of Craig Nevatt and
Jason Waters on 2463.
 England’s
2005 top-ranked bowler Dominic Barrett joined
the list of Gold medallists with a
record-breaking individual series during the
Mixed Doubles event on Day 3. With a 1472
pinfall, the 20 year-old from Essex claimed
the previous record of 1461 set by England
bowler Nick Froggatt in 2002. Partner Fiona
Banks won Gold in the Women’s Doubles event,
and the Mixed Doubles win took the English
team to the
Mixed Doubles medalists
top of the medal tally
midway through the Championship with three
Gold.#
Australia’s youth team duo of
Tracey Madden and Glen Loader had to settle
for Bronze with a 2611 score, just seven pins
behind their team-mates Ann Maree Putney and
George Frilingos, after another stellar
performance by Putney who punched out a 265 in
Game 6 to overtake the hapless Canadian pair
of Jonathan Simoneau and Jennifer Willis-Park,
who finished on 2599. The 265 game added
another record to Putney’s achievements at
this tournament, replacing her own 257 mark
set in 2002 and delivering an identical final
score of 1309 to her Doubles partner, George
Frilingos.
The Mixed Teams event on Day 4
was bowled on dual lane conditions – the first
three games on Short Oil and the final three
on Long Oil. Team Canada withstood determined
challenges from England, Australia and Malta
to strike Gold for the first time at this
year’s Championship and the victory was sweet
after Gold had also eluded Canada several
times at the previous Championship in Cyprus.
All four Canadian bowlers
posted clean games in the sixth to notch up an
impressive 878 and a total pinfall of 4969 for
the series. The Australian bowlers overcame
an unsteady second game and finished strongly
to take Silver on 4852, while a disappointing
final game for Malta enabled England to slip
past them by just 39 pins to bag the Bronze.
England’s dual-Gold medallist
Fiona Banks took the Women’s High Game honours
with a 276 to set a new 1-game Teams record,
previously held by Donna Adams, while Canadian
George Lambert’s 278 eclipsed the 269 record
set by Jason Belmonte in Scotland.
Top seed in the Men’s division
going into the Masters on the penultimate day
of play was Dominic Barrett from England on
5170, and Ann Maree Putney from Australia
topped the Women’s division on 5011.
Bowlers from nine of the 16 countries
represented at the III Commonwealth Tenpin
Bowling Championship figured in the Masters
line-up.
Following the first 6 games on
Short Oil on Day 5, Australia’s George
Frilingos took a handy lead ahead of
Malaysia’s Doubles Gold medallist, Mohd Noer
Said, with 12th place qualifier Ray
Falzon Reale from Malta lying in third
position. In the Women’s division, Fiona
Banks from England won all six of her matches
to establish a decisive lead over Canada’s
Willis-Park and Malaysia’s Choy Poh Lai, in an
exciting prelude to the final day’s play.
An exuberant crowd of locals and overseas
visitors cheered George Frilingos and
 Fiona
Banks to victory in the final matches of the
Masters Stepladder final. Top seed Frilingos
recovered from a 41 pin deficit in the first
of the 2-game final to take the coveted
Masters Gold by a slim 2 pin margin, (170-211,
and 208-165) from Malaysia’s Mohd Noer Said.
Said advanced to the final by defeating
England’s Jon Zadel 223-186 after Zadel
uncharacteristically opened in two frames in
the single-game Semi-final.
Masters Champions
On the adjoining lanes, the
first match of the Women’s stepladder final
saw Canada’s Jennifer Willis-Park eliminate
Australia’s Ann Maree Putney in a close game,
213-210 to then face an in-form Fiona Banks in
the 2-game final. The plucky Canadian
established a 3 pin lead after both bowlers
opened frames in the first game, but Fiona
Banks closed the gap to clinch the Gold medal,
199-202 and 233-222.
A colourful closing
ceremony and trophy presentation acknowledged
the All-Events winners – Australia’s Ann Maree
Putney and Dominic Barrett from England. The
TRIPLE DIAMOND PERPETUAL TROPHY, denoting the
three Zones of the sport
 encompassed
by the Commonwealth
(pictured, left, with Sec-Gen. Lynne Clay),
was then presented to the inaugural Award
winner, Team Australia, on behalf of donor,
the Australian Diamond Company.
The ceremony culminated with a
flag-bearing march-out of the Men’s and
Women’s Masters medal-winners and their
Coaches, with Commonwealth Games Federation
CEO, Michael Hooper presenting the CGF-endorsed
medals to the Masters champions and
placegetters. Michael Hooper addressed
competitors and officials, commending the
Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Federation for
staging its third successful Championship and
encouraging its members to expand the circle
of participating countries as widely as
possible in future Championships.
The
popularity of the Championship with players,
officials and spectators can be gauged by the
widespread media coverage attracted in the
lead up to, and since the completion of the
event in regional and national newspapers,
radio and television programs, and via
international websites and industry
magazines. The official site –
www.2006ctbc.com
recorded almost half a million page hits and
full scores, photo gallery and details of the
final medal tally plus records achieved at the
III CTBC can be accessed via this site.
Media enquiries, please contact CTBF
Secretary-General and Media
Director, Lynne Clay on +61 419 444 280 or
email
lynneclay@bigpond.com
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