Hundreds Flock To 75th Indoor Bowling Nationals - This Year Held In Ashburton
The Championships will be held at the EA Networks Sports Centre and take eight days of intensive competition to complete.
Due to the large entry, the entire floor space will be utilised with over 80 mats being used.
This is the second time that Ashburton has hosted the national championships, with them also playing host for the 2018 edition.
Leading local contenders for national titles this year include Mat Bassett and Michael Lawson who are the defending Singles title-holder and Champion Pairs lead respectively.
Indoor bowls is a sport that can be played by anyone of all ages, and entrants range from the ''Young Guns'' Fours team of Nathan Trowell (20), Matthew Foster (21), Malcom Trowell and Dylan Foster (19) who won the National Fours title in 2023 to Bernard Bennett from Tauranga, who is 93 years old and attended his first national championships in 1955!
Entry is free, and the event will be broadcast live on the Matside Broadcasting YouTube channel, here:https://www.youtube.com/@matsidebroadcasting3184/streams
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Club cleans up at e-competition
Cromwell martial arts competitor Anika Takimoana, 17, with the medals she won in an international e-competition. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED It seems anything can be done online — including martial arts competitions. Kman's Martial Arts Club head coach and owner Kman McEvoy said 11 students competed in the VI Open Martial Arts e-Championships, collecting a total of 14 medals. The championship was an online event contested by countries from all over the world with international judges. Gorge Borges, 9, with his nunchaku and medal from the weapons division of an international martial arts e-competition. "It is a great way to compete against the world without leaving your town, which saves competitors travel time, hassle and money," McEvoy said. The championship was a hard forms competition where martial artists performed a routine of martial arts moves, including strikes, blocks and stances, in a sequence like a fight dance. The routines were the core of most martial arts and called patterns in taekwondo, kata in karate, forms in kung fu, and were a way to practice martial arts techniques by yourself, he said. They were judged on form, technique, power, speed, precision, balance, flow and execution. The team was now training for the Auckland kickboxing championships later this month, the National Judo Championships in Christchurch in October and the World Taekwondo Championships in Puerto Rico in November. However, the club was not all about winning medals, McEvoy said. "Even though some members train for competitions, most train for self-defence, fitness and self-confidence." Gold medals were won by Kman McEvoy, 60, and co-coach Diego Hernandez, 31; silver medals were won by sister and brother Enora, 14, and Hoel Henry, 11; Anika Takimoana, 17; brothers Cian, 10, and Nate Driscoll, 6; and sisters Megan, 12, and Emerson Douglas, 10; and bronze medals were won by George Borges, 9, Reuben Brass, 11, Anika Takimoana and Megan and Emerson Douglas. — Allied Media
RNZ News
09-08-2025
- RNZ News
Rower Matt Dunham gets call-up for New Zealand's world championships team
Matt Dunham has earned a surprise recall to the NZ rowing team. Photo: Photosport Matt Dunham has been called up into the New Zealand rowing team, in a move he describes as a ''pretty random outcome". Dunham replaces Josh Vodanovich, who has made himself unavailable at a late stage because of illness. That withdrawal left team-mates Flynn Watson, Campbell Crouch and Zack Rumble facing the prospect of being unable to attend the championships in Shanghai in late September. But Dunham answered the call to attend trials at Lake Karāpiro last weekend and has now been included in the 18-strong NZ team. "They didn't have enough people, so that was the problem," Dunham said, who last rowed at the world champs in 2023 in the lightweight double sculls. "Pretty random outcome, I wasn't expecting it. "The guys asked me to go for a row (on Friday) with them. They liked it, so talked to Judith Hamilton (Rowing NZ performance manager) and the selectors and about 6pm Saturday, I was asked to join trials and do a 2K erg test on Monday morning. "A week of tough time trials followed, sure enough, we were lucky to get through it and get the boat over the line to be able to go to world champs." Dunham missed qualifying for the Olympics by just 0.17 seconds with his third placing in the B final at the 2023 world champs. New Zealand will field crews in the mixed eight and mixed double sculls, which will be held for the first time at a world champs. As a result most of the squad will row in two events at Shanghai. Kathryn Glen will race in the women's quadruple sculls and partner Ben Mason in the mixed doubles. The mixed eight will comprise of men's pair Ben Taylor and Oliver Welch, Watson, Crouch and the women's four of Alana Sherman, Isla Blake, Rebecca Leigh and Juliette Lequeux. Finn Hamill will join Mason in the men's double sculls after making a big impression during the season. The New Zealanders to race at the world championships in Shanghai, 21-28 September, include: Men's single scull Logan Ullrich, Waikato Rowing Club Mike Rodger, Coach Men's double scull Ben Mason, Avon Rowing Club Finn Hamill, Waikato Rowing Club Gary Roberts, Coach Men's Coxless Pair Ben Taylor, Avon Rowing Club Oliver Welch, Avon Rowing Club Mike Rodger, Coach Women's Coxless Four Alana Sherman, Waikato Rowing Club Isla Blake, Waikato Rowing Club Rebecca Leigh, Cambridge Rowing Club Juliette Lequeux, Otago University Rowing Club Tom Stannard, Coach Women's Quad Kathryn Glen, Avon Rowing Club Stella Clayton-Greene, Hauraki-Plains Rowing Club Ella Cossill, Waikato Rowing Club Veronica Wall, Ashburton Rowing Club James Coote, Coach Men's Coxless Four Flynn Watson, Avon Rowing Club Zack Rumble, Avon Rowing Club Campbell Crouch, Waikato Rowing Club Matthew Dunham, Cambridge Rowing Club Mike Rodger, Coach Mixed Double Ben Mason, Avon Rowing Club Kathryn Glen, Avon Rowing Club Gary Roberts & James Coote, Coaches Mixed Eight Alana Sherman, Waikato Rowing Club Isla Blake, Waikato Rowing Club Rebecca Leigh, Cambridge Rowing Club Juliette Lequeux, Otago University Rowing Club Ben Taylor, Avon Rowing Club Oliver Welch, Avon Rowing Club Flynn Watson, Avon Rowing Club Campbell Crouch, Waikato Rowing Club Harry Molloy, Cox, North Shore Rowing Club, Thames Rowing Club Tom Stannard, Coach Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
05-08-2025
- Otago Daily Times
'There's a few lefties having a sulk': Christchurch to host controversial backyard brawl
A screenshot from a previous event, held in May in Auckland. Image: Youtube UFC fighter Dan Hooker is taking his controversial backyard brawls to another level, this time inviting 32 convicted criminals to battle it out for a $50,000 prize. The UFC lightweight courted controversy in May when he hosted his inaugural 32-man, one-minute fist fight tournament in Auckland, dubbed "king of the streets". It saw a senior Mongrel Mob member referred to police, as he was wearing an ankle bracelet. The event prompted New Zealand's Boxing Coaches Association president Billy Meehan to call the event "straight-out thuggery". Following the backlash, Hooker went on the on-line combat sport programme the Ariel Helwani Show, and vowed to host more events. "There's a few lefties having a sulk, but once everyone watches the full 45 minutes and sees the respect for the fighters, since when did putting gloves on in the backyard and having a punch up become illegal?" he said. "Since when is that a crime?" Hooker claims the events, where fighters take part in a boxing-style fight, and wear MMA gloves, are run by some of the most experienced combat sports people in the country. Dan Hooker Photo: Facebook A month ago the 35-year-old held an event for women to fight it out for $50,000. In a social media post, Hooker said his next event would take place in seven weeks in Christchurch and would be livestreamed. Hooker said the event was for "convicts only" and will be capped with a 100kg weight limit. The caption reads: "This one's for the lads the system failed." The video on Instagram has received more than 24,000 likes. People are encouraged to contact Hooker with their details if they are interested. A dedicated Instagram page showing clips of past backyard scraps was created a week ago and has more than 54,000 followers, leaving Hooker feeling "pumped" and "excited for the future." The prize money is funded by a social media influencer, known as 'The Doctor', who shares streaming and gambling videos.
