Junior Interzone Dubbo 7 A-Side Wrap
Seven Juniors went away and represented the ACT with pride and class.
Last weekend, seven of the brightest young stars from the Capital Region went and competed in the 2024 NSW Interzone Junior 7 A-Side tournament at Club Dubbo. With tricky conditions on Saturday and a high quality of bowls on both days, all juniors will come away from the tournament with valuable experience to build upon. 14 Teams were in this years tournament, which meant that the ACT had a bye in the first session of every discipline on Saturday and would play a scratch match against Zone 5.
Singles
In the Singles discipline, the ACT was represented by Yass young gun Toby Penyu. On Saturday, Toby’s campaign started with a loss to NSW Under 25 Representative Tom Rich, the eventual silver medallist. Toby showed his resilience and was able to bounce back in the final sectional game, defeating Zone 15s Sam Griffiths 21-9. Toby finished second in his section, meaning that he would play off for 5th to 8th on Sunday. He started Sunday where he left off on Saturday, defeating Zone 9s Riley Scott-Branagan 21-9. In the 5th place playoff game, Toby was able to make it three wins in a row, this time defeating the Pathway Jackaroo Reese Finn-Young 21-14, securing 5th place in the process.
Pairs
The ACT was represented in the pairs by Goulburn Railway’s Jordan Sturgiss and Canberra’s William Lopez. The duo’s campaign started with a loss to the Zone 10 pairing of Lily Kirk and Sam Rich. Both boys bounced back in their second game but it wasn’t enough as the Zone 15 pairing of Henry Ly and Oscar Hide managed to get the better of the ACT pair by 9 shots. Jordan and Will came back on Sunday with a fire in their bellies and used it to full effect, as they defeated the Zone 8 pairing of Shakiya Murray and Steven Houting by 1 shot. The boys were playing off for 9th and they came agonisingly close but the Zone 5 pairing of Chelsea Renouf and Cody McClaren prevailed by 1 shot, meaning that the ACT duo finished 10th overall.
Fours
The fours squad for the ACT consisted of Sam McGuigan from Yass, Telara-Ann Edwards from Queanbeyan RSL, Brayden Noonan from Belconnen and veteran junior Tom Penyu from Yass. The fours were dominant in their first game, defeating Zone 10 27 to 5 but their dominance didn’t stop there as they won their second game 22-8 over Zone 15. With the squad topping their section, they had qualified for the 1st to 4th playoffs on Sunday. They picked up where they left off on Sunday, with a comprehensive 18-7 shot win over Zone 16, booking a spot in the Gold Medal Match. In a tight affair, the ACT team fell just short, losing by 7 shots to Zone 3.
Bowls ACT would like to congratulate all juniors on their efforts this past weekend and would like to thank Coach Matthew Styles for providing the juniors with a high performance environment that they have thrived in.
Below are photos of the ACT team, with photo credit going to Bowls NSW.
Photo Gallery (Photos from Bowls NSW)
