Bowls Canada – It was an action packed week in West Vancouver for the 2016 Canadian Open Singles Championships. Fourteen women from three provinces competed for the top prize, while thirty-eight men from six different provinces battled for the gold.

The women played a sectioned round robin with all those winning 50% or more games advancing to a series of knockout rounds to determine the final four. In semi-final action, sixteen year-old Jordan Kos of Saskatchewan played Sarina Mak of British Columbia while Alberta’s Joanna Cooper faced Mary Wright from British Columbia. With wins in the semi-finals, Wright and Kos advanced to the gold medal game while Mak and Cooper would battle for bronze.

In the final, it was British Columbia native Wright who came out victorious with the gold medal after beating Kos in a tie breaker set (13-8, 8-9, 5-0). This marked Wright’s second national title in a row with a recent victory in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Canadian Senior Triples Championships.
The bronze medal game was decided in two sets with Cooper defeating Mak to win the bronze in a score of 7-5, 9-9.

On the men’s side there was no shortage of action and excitement. The round robin play was divided between five pools. The top leaders out of each pool were; Jim Aitken from Pool A, Hirendra Bhartu from Pool B, Greg Wilson from Pool C, Malcolm Taylor from Pool D and John Bjornson from Pool E. Following a knockout round, a round of sixteen, and a quarter final round, the semi-finals were played between Pat Bird of Alberta and Taylor of British Columbia while Alberta’s Wilson played Manitoba’s Bjornson. Bjornson and Bird emerged victorious and moved to play each other for the gold medal while Wilson and Taylor advanced to the bronze medal match.

The men’s gold medal game featured end to end action that kept the fans on the edge of their seats. Heading in to the final end, Bjornson was up 3-2. With one bowl left, Bird was laying one with a resting toucher while Bjornson had both second and third shot. Although the margin for error was extremely narrow with Bjornson’s second shot only a bowl width away, Bird opted to roll his bowl rather than settle for the tie and play an extra end. With a trip to the 2017 Champion of Champions on the line, Bird needed a perfect shot. Rolling the bowl just around his toucher, Bird edged out Bjornson’s bowl for a count of two and the win. The final scores were 9-5, 4-10 and 4-3.

Echoing the women’s bronze medal game, the men’s bronze medal was also decided in only two sets with Wilson coming out on top 10-5, 10-2 over Taylor.

Along with the national title and prize money representing 50% of the respective entry fees, Wright and Bird have won the right to represent Canada at the 2017 World Champion of Champions Tournament to be hosted in NSW, Australia. The remaining prize money was distributed with 25% of the entry fees going to the silver medallists, and 15% and 10% going to the third and fourth place finishers respectively.

For all the results, please visit: http://www.bowlscanada.com/en/championship/2016champ_singles.html

For more information, please contact: Katie Gardner Communications and Promotions Manager, Bowls Canada Boulingrin kgardner@bowlscanada.com About Bowls Canada Boulingrin Bowls Canada Boulingrin (BCB) is the governing body responsible for lawn bowls in Canada. The BCB mission is to advance the sport of bowls in Canada. For more details on Bowls Canada Boulingrin and the sport of lawn bowls, visit http://bowlscanada.com