New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) Australia Wednesday announced its lawn bowls squad for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games here.
Australia had topped the medal count in lawn bowls in Melbourne four years ago with three gold, one silver and one bronze medals and coach Rex Johnston believes it is possible to replicate that performance in Delhi.
‘We’re extremely happy with the final 12 that have been selected,’ he said, preparing for his sixth successive Commonwealth Games campaign as a player or a coach.
‘We have a strong mix of youth and experience, with the likes of Armitage, Turley and Casey being given the chance to defend their respective gold medals from Melbourne, while we’ve also invested our faith in the likes of Cottrell and Selby who have proven to be world class players over the past couple of years.’
Natasha van Eldik , 19, will be youngest lawn bowler to don the Australian colours in a Commonwealth Games meet.
She lines up alongside reigning gold medallist, 26-year-old Lynsey Armitage. The pair won the silver medal at the eight-nation tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium lawn bowls facility here in April.
The 20-year-old Kelsey Cottrell, a reserve four years ago, will make her debut in the women’s singles, while Sharyn Renshaw (NSW), Claire Duke (NSW) and Julie Keegan (NSW) have been selected to play in the triples.
In the men’s disciplines, world No.2 Leif Selby has secured the coveted singles role while Mark Berghofer and Aron Sherriff will play in the pairs and Brett Wilkie will partner defending Games champions Wayne Turley (NSW) and Mark Casey (QLD) in the triples.
The team:
Men: Singles: Leif Selby; Pairs: Mark Berghofer and Aron Sherriff; Triples: Brett Wilkie, Wayne Turley and Mark Casey.
Women: Singles: Kelsey Cottrell: Pairs: Lynsey Armitage and Natasha Van Eldik; Triples: Sharyn Renshaw, Claire Duke and Julie Keegan
