Dan Dickison put in a hard day’s work to capture his 20^th Bay of Plenty centre title in 10 seasons since moving to Tauranga from the Far North.

Tauranga club’s Dickison won the open men’s singles for the third time, having to overcome Michael Staite (Ngongotaha) in the semi-finals and Anthony Ouellet (Tauranga South) in the final in 21-18 matches.

“That was bloody hard work – singles is a young man’s game and my body is sore,” Dickison said after the tough final under cover at Tauranga South. “The heads were so good. You could draw with confidence and you had to think about where you were positioning your bowls.

“I’m happy, though. It’s my 20^th title since arriving here at the end of 2015. An average of two centre titles a season is pretty good going,” he said.

Ouellet started well, leading 7-4 but the final was all locked up at 9-all, 11-all and 12-all before Dickison’s persistence started to pay off. Ouellet had just saved going four down with his last bowl by nicking the kitty sideways to drop one shot.

But then Dickison chipped out Ouellet’s two counting bowls to score three shots and finally edge ahead 15-12 – a lead he never relinquished.

Dickison strode to 18-12 and 20-16, Ouellet mounted a comeback with three twos over the closing ends but Dickison held his nerve for a well-earned victory when Ouellet’s backhand run shot went flashing past the shot bowl on the final end.

Staite will be wondering “what could have been” when he led Dickison 16-8 and 17-11 in the semi-final. In another match of tight heads on the no-surprises indoor green, Dickson kept grinding away and pulled back to 17-all after picking up his second cluster of three shots in the match. Dickison went ahead 18-17, 19-18 and finally 21-18.

Ouellet was well in control of his semi-final against Mount Maunganui’s Nick Tomsett who had earlier upset his clubmate Nathan Arlidge 21-7. Ouellet led 10-5, 14-9 and then added a four, two and a one to finish off the match 21-9.

Earlier, Sue Hodges added the Bay open women’s singles to her national champion of champions title after beating fast-improving Katarina Stepec 21-16 in the final.

Stepec upset national under 26 representative Caitlin Thomson 21-18 in the quarter-final, and then beat Caitlin’s mother Angela Stephen 21-10 in the semi-final.

Hodges, playing out of the Tauranga and Omokoroa clubs, collected her 17^th title in 10 seasons in the Bay to add to the 18 centre championships in Dunedin.

Over the past decade, Dickison and Hodges have been two of the Bay’s most dominant players, collecting 37 titles between them.

Results: Men’s singles, quarter-finals: Dan Dickison 21 Jarrod Riley 11; Michael Staite 21 Johan Van Greunen 8; Nick Tomsett 21 Nathan Arlidge 7; Anthony Ouellet 21 Frank Aldridge 19.

Semi-finals: Dickison 21 Staite 18; Ouellet 21 Tomsett 9. Final. Dickison 21 Ouellet 18.

Women’s singles, quarter-finals: Angela Stephen 21 Lynda Copeland 9; Katarina Stepec 21 Caitlin Thomson 18; Sue Hodges 21 Jean Morris 5; Kate Robbie 21 Lynne Bodger 18.

Semi-finals: Stepec 21 Stephen 10; Hodges 21 Robbie 17. Final: Hodges 21 Stepec 16.

Article added: Sunday 22 December 2024