ANTHONY Carstairs and Noel Kennedy hauled themselves back into contention for a semi-final berth in the pairs event of the Hong Kong International Bowls Classic with two wins at the Kowloon Bowling Green Club yesterday. Hong Kong flag bearers Carstairs and Kennedy, who suffered two losses on Tuesday, bounced back with a 25-19 triumph over City Lawn Bowls Club's Wong Kui-wong and Lo Wai-ming in the sixth round. They followed it up by beating the Recreio team of Tony Abraham and Wilfred Ogley 28-12 and moved up to fourth position on the Section Two tables with 10 points, two behind joint leaders New Zealand, Wales and Israel. Will Thomas and David Wilkins of Wales ended Rowan Brassey and Gary Lawson's unbeaten run with a 26-12 demolition of the New Zealanders in the morning session. However, Brassey and Lawson overwhelmed Wong and Lo 42-11 in their second match to secure top position in the standings by a superior shot difference. Fijians Curtis Mar and Caucau Turababeci head Section One with 12 points after two very convincing wins while arch-rivals Wynne Richard and Andy Thompson of England suffered two upset defeats. Mar and Curtis crushed Craigengower Cricket Club's David Tso and George Souza 25-6 and humbled the KBGC combination of Tony King and Adam Poynton 26-12 to stay one point clear of South Africa's Donny Piketh and Neil Burkett, who also won both their matches. Overnight leaders Richard and Thompson had a tough time losing both their matches. China Light and Power's Stephen Lo and Peter Chan stunned Richard and Thompson with a 19-18 victory and the two Englishmen never recovered from the shock as they went down 31-10 to Piketh and Burkett in the afternoon match. The tournament takes a break today and will resume with three rounds of play tomorrow.
