The New Zealand Professional Bowls Association’s youngest-ever qualifier for the World Bowls Tour, and the youngest to play in the Scottish International Open Singles, 16-year-old David Motu gave a good account of himself in going down to top seed Stewart Anderson in the opening round.

On a quick carpet at the West Lothian Indoor Bowls Club west of Edinburgh, Motu looked very comfortable playing out an Anderson shot bowl for two in the first end. Anderson was quick to reply with four shots in the next two ends but Motu then controlled the middle stages of the first set winning four singles in a row to lead 6-4 with two ends to play.

The eighth end of the first set proved the turning point with Anderson driving off two Motu shots with his second bowl appearing to unsettle the Kiwi. The Scot was very quick to put shots on the jack to level the set 6-6 and then nailed the last end. The young Aucklander had a good target but missed with a drive with his third bowl and was unable to save with his last going down 8-6.

The top seeds on the World Bowls Tour are usually good front-runners with Anderson then taking control of the match in the second set dropping onto a consistent 26-metre jack length. Motu was able to trail the jack in the third end to keep the score to 3-2 but was unable to trouble the scorers again falling away to an 11-2 set loss. A full replay of the match is available on the World Bowls Tour’s Facebook page.

The next New Zealand action will be in the World Indoor Championships at the Potter’s Leisure Resort in England in January. Dunedin’s Marty Kreft will feature in the World Indoor Singles and will get some practice time in the World Indoor Pairs beforehand teaming up with NZ PBA Chairman Richard Corry who was the only one of the four finalists in the NZ Pairs playoffs to choose to take the trip to the UK.

Information including an application form, entry forms, dates and venues for the NZ PBA can be found on the worldbowlstour.org site under PBA – New Zealand.