Tie breakers prove crucial as Cumbernauld bowler exits World Cup

Bowler Gavin Ansari in action at the World Cup (pic by lawnbowls.com)

Bowler Gavin Ansari has narrowly missed out on his bid to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in Australia.

The 27-year-old Cumbernauld Indoor Bowling Club player won four of his nine pool matches in the competition at Warilla in New South Wales.

But two key defeats suffered in tie-break deciders proved crucial as he finished in fifth place in the nine-player pool and failed to make it into the play-offs for a semi-final place.

Ansari opened his campaign against Honk Kong’s Kevin Fung and got off to a great start by taking the opening set 7-4, but he lost the second 11-3 and the Hong Kong player edged the tie-break 4-2.

Another defeat followed at the hands of Australian three-time winner Jeremy Henry, who was playing on his home rink, before Gavin got off the mark with victory over Canada’s Vincent Mai.

After losing to Fiji’s Samuela Tuikiligana, Ansari again came back with a fine win 10-4 3-11 4-1 over South Africa’s Rudi Jacobs.

Next up was a crunch match against Spain’s Peter Bonsor, one of his main rivals for a qualification spot, but after both regulation sets had ended in 6-6 ties the Spaniard took the tie-break 4-2.

An 8-4 14-2 demolition of Turkey’s Ozkan Akar gave Gavin his third win but in a close encounter with Homer Mercado of the Philippines he went down 8-5 11-7 to end his hopes of reaching the play-offs for a semi-final spot.

However he ended his competition on a high with a 10-3 11-2 victory over Japan’s Jun Koyama.