Canadian pair headline top Classic lineup
CANADA'S newly-crowned Pacific pairs champions Billy Boettger and Mark Gilliland head a star-studded field for the revived Hong Kong International Bowls Classic in November at the Kowloon Green Bowling Club.
The tournament, one of the most popular events among the world's top bowlers, was abandoned last year because of a lack of sponsorship. But the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association has been able to revive it with financial assistance from the Sports Development Board.
Boettger and Gilliland are currently the hottest pairs combination in the world, having won the gold at last month's Pacific Bowls Championships in Victoria, Canada.
But bowlers from Australia, England, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland, Wales and Hong Kong are expected to give the Canadians a solid run for the prestigious title.
Leading the Australian challenge will be Cameron Curtis, the singles gold medallist at the Pacific tournament, who will play lead with Ian Taylor.
Scotland's Graham Robertson and Alex Marshall must also be a highly fancied combination, winning the 1990 Hong Kong Classic.
They were both double medallists at last year's World Championships, with Marshall a member of the pairs and fours gold medal winning teams while Robertson won a bronze in triples and a gold in fours.
Another strongly favoured pair is England's John Bell and Tony Alcock. Bell has been a regular in the Hong Kong event while veteran Alcock is making his return after 12 years.
Alcock is best known for his partnership with David Bryant and together they won nearly every major bowls title.
For the first time women players will compete with Margaret Johnston and Norma Shaw representing the British Isles while Daphne Shaw and Edda Bonutto will fly the Australian flag.
Ireland's Johnston was the gold medallist in both the women's singles and pairs in the 1992 World Championships and Shaw, of England, won bronze medals in singles and triples at the same event.
The 20-team field will be completed by 10 local combinations, including two women's pairs and representative teams from six top clubs.
The six clubs are Kowloon Bowling Green Club, Kowloon Cricket Club, Filipino Club, Hong Kong Football Club, China Light and Craigengower Cricket Club.
