South Africa dominates Pairs and Triples events

WINDHOEK-SPORT REPORTER

South Africa demonstrated why they are the best bowls nation on the African continent when their men's and women's team clinched the gold medal at the Pairs and Triples events respectively at the African States Tournament (AST).
After the men from South Africa had successfully triumphed over their opposition on Wednesday afternoon, their female teammates won gold yesterday morning.
In the triples discipline, the South African ladies won before the last round.
In their last game they came up against Zimbabwe, losing that the encounter 14:21, yet still stayed at the top.
Things were a lot different in the Pairs event as South Africa and Zimbabwe faced each other in the last round, with the difference, that both nations were equal on points when they went head to head at the Windhoek Country Club.
Eventually Bronwyn Webber and Sylvia Burns kept their cool to defeat Jane Rigby and Melanie Fay James with 25:12 and therefore finishing at the very top.
The Namibian women on the other hand have had a rather disappointing campaign so far.
The Triples team of Marietjie du Preez, Sheena du Toit and Charlotte Morland as well as the Pairs duo of Marie van der Merwe and Diana Viljoen only managed to win one game each.
The Namibian men's team, though, showed great skill and character over the last three days to win silver medals in both the Triples as well as the Pairs events.
Although both teams lost their last game to South Africa, their accumulated points of the previous games were enough to place them second.
In the Pairs discipline, both Namibia and arch rivals South Africa went into the last game equal on points. This game had to decide who will be crowned the champion of 2013.
Both nations displayed world class bowls, giving the fans at the Eros Bowling Club exactly what they came to see.
After a nerve wrecking game, Rudi Jacobs and Robert Donnelly from South Africa managed to edge out their Namibian counterparts Jean Viljoen and Will Esterhuizen by 20:12.
Meanwhile, the Namibian Triples trio of Graham Snyman, Ewald Vermeulen and Axel Krahenbühl were under pressure in their final game after they had surprisingly lost to Kenya the day before.
A win would see them catch up to the first-placed South Africans and the shot difference would decide the overall winner.
At the same time Kenya had the same amount of points as the Namibians, so the hosts had to hope that Zimbabwe would beat Kenya to avoid them going past the Namibians, should they lose.
Namibia eventually lost to the South Africans with 22:12, but in a turn of events Zimbabwe narrowly defeated Kenya with 15:10.
All three nations ended up with 8 points and Namibia only clinched the second place due to a better shot difference.
The Namibian men started their quest for medals in the Singles and Fours disciplines successfully this morning at the Eros Bowls Club.
The Fours team of Graham Snyman, Ewald Vermeulen, Jean Viljoen and Axel Krahenbühl edged out Zimbabwe 21:14, while Will Esterhuizen narrowly overcame Zimbabwe's Roy Garden with 21:19 in the Singles event.