The first winners of the AO are crowned.
Wednesday, June 21st turned out to be a great day for Queensland with a dramatic win in round two of State of Origin and a huge haul of titles collected by Queenslanders in the first finals of the 2017 Australian Open (June 10 – 23). (Pictured left: The winners of Wednesday’s Bowlers With a Disability finals, from back left – Vision Impaired Men’s Singles Champion Jake Fehlberg and his director Grant Fehlberg, director Bob Seymour, Intellectual Disability Mixed Singles Champion Nathan Appleton. Front, Vision Impaired Women’s Singles Champion Lynne Seymour, Hearing Impaired Mixed Singles Champion Dianne Reddick and Physical Disability Women’s Singles Champion Lynda Bennett.)
It turned out to be a bumper day for the Queenslanders in the Bowlers With a Disability finals who took out four of the five titles played for in the Australian Open yesterday (June 21) and all the usual suspects were there to collect the spoils.
In the Vision Impaired Men’s Singles Jake Fehlberg (Burleigh Heads) with the help of his director and farther Grant Fehlberg, Jake trumped his section and won all three games to put himself up against New South Wales’s Russell Hadley in the final.
Hadley who picked up bronze in the pairs at this year’s Australian Blind Bowls Championships had won all three of his games too, however, Fehlberg defeated Hadley with a comfortable 21-7 win to claim the Singles title and the $1,000 prize.
In the Women’s Vision Impaired Singles final it was a strictly Queensland affair with seasoned veterans Lynne Seymour (Thuringowa City) and Joy Forster (Chermside) were set to lock heads after taking out the top spots in their respective sections.
There were no safe bets in the final, the money could have gone either way with both Seymour and Forster having returned from their South African campaign at the 11th IBBA World Blind Bowls as gold medallists.
In the end though there could only ever be one winner and Seymour took out the title with a 21-17 win over Forster and snag herself a $1,000 payday.
It was a similar story in the Hearing Impaired Mixed Singles with the final consisting solely of Queenslanders, Corinda’s Dianne Reddick and Janet Hogan (Boyne-Tannum) set themselves up for a clash to decide who would take home the title.
After the dust had settled Reddick found herself $1,000 richer and the 2017 Australian Open Hearing Impaired Mixed Singles title holder following her 21-12 win over Hogan.
In the Intellectual Disability Mixed Singles Mckenzie Park’s Krystie Ebert who had done well in the sectional play and semi-final, was forced to settle for the runner-up prize of $500 after a hefty 21-2 loss to North Toowoomba’s Nathan Appleton who had been on top form throughout the event.
The Physical Disability Women’s Singles was the only event not to have a Queensland winner, with the honours going to New Zealand’s Lynda Bennett in the end after defeating Michelle Campbell (NSW) 21-8.
Results of yesterday’s BWD Finals:
Vision Impaired Men’s Singles Champion – Jake Fehlberg (QLD) def Russell Hadley 21-7
Vision Impaired Women’s Singles Champion – Lynne Seymour (QLD) def Joy Forster 21-17
Hearing Impaired Mixed Singles Champion – Dianne Reddick (QLD) def Janet Hogan 21-12
Intellectual Disability Mixed Singles Champion – Nathan Appleton (QLD) def Krystie Ebert 21-2
Physical Disability Women’s Singles Champion – Lynda Bennett (NZ) def Michelle Campbell 21-8
To view the full results and fixtures visit the Australian Open Website available click on the link below:
http://australianopen.bowlsaustralia.com.au/
