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European Championships 2024 – Mid tournament Press Release

2024 European Championships

National Centre for Bowling, Ayr, Scotland

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th, 2024

It’s been a golden day for England and Ireland at the 2024 European Championships at the National Centre for Bowling, Ayr.

Both countries clinched two golds each as the first of two medal days was staged at the Scottish venue.

Commonwealth Games and World Bowls Championships medallist Amy Pharaoh led the charge for the English chalking up success in the women’s singles winning gold medal with a 21-6 win in just 14 ends over Jersey’s Lindsay Greechan.

Interestingly, Pharaoh and Greechan had been in the same sectional draw which saw Greechan top the table and Pharaoh runner-up. Greechan having emerged a 21-19 winner when they played in the earlier rounds.

As a result, Pharaoh successfully negotiated two three-end play-offs against Wales (Sara Nicholls) and Ireland (Shauna O’Neill) to reach the semi-finals where she eliminated Israel’s Ruti Gilor 21-4. Greechan meanwhile pipped her fellow Channel Islander Lucy Beere MBE (Guernsey) – who was the only player to win all her group games – 21-19.

Beere beat Gilor for the bronze scoring 11 shots without reply after being 10-12 adrift to win 21-12.

England also celebrated success in the men’s triples courtesy of Jack Emmerson, Martin Spencer and Andrew Briden who beat the hosts Scotland (Blair Davidson, Darren Gualtieri and Dean Riva) 17-10 to claim gold with an end to spare.

Ireland’s Ryan McElroy, Shane Leonard and Mark Wilson ran out three shot winners against Israel’s Noam Yehudai, David Trappler and Allan Saitowitz in the bronze medal match.

There was more success for Ireland in the men’s pairs and women’s fours.

Simon Martin and Jack Moffett beat Jersey’s Kevin Le Long and Greg Davis to take gold in the pairs, with Scotland’s Aaron Betts and Darren Weir finishing as bronze medallists beating Ralph de Rooij and Frank de Vries, of the Netherlands, by nine. Netherlands causing one of the biggest shocks of the event so far ousting England’s Nick Wardle and Joe Dawson in the play-off.
Sisters Hannah and Rachel Cochrane, Lara Reaney and Chloe Wilson overturned an early 9-2 deficit against Scotland’s Emma McIntyre, Carla Banks, Megan Grantham and Gail Notman to win by six in the women’s fours.

Bronze went to Wales’ Lauren Gowen, Jodie McCarthy, Emma Gittins and Carline Taylor who accounted for England 19-5 – England’s Ruby Hill, Emily Kernick, Nicole Rogers and Harriet Stevens having whitewashed Spain 51-0 in the group games!

The medals were presented by Bowls Scotland president Frances Sandilands, assisted by Bob Christie MBE, chairperson of Bowls Europe.

Eighteen countries are taking part in the European Championships, organised by Bowls Europe and hosted by Bowls Scotland, which sees 11 disciplines being played over the event which runs until Sunday.

“The championships are now, undoubtedly, the biggest international bowls event held in the Northern Hemisphere,” said Bob Christie, chairperson of Bowls Europe.

“The event has taken months of organisation and planning and would not have been achievable without the hard work and dedication of a lot of people, including the Bowls Europe board of directors, the staff of Bowls Scotland and the assistance of the countries involved.”

Tomorrow (Thursday) sees the start of the men’s singles and fours and women’s pairs and triples, while Saturday heralds an historic day with para championships being included for the first time.

Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Israel will compete in men’s paras and mixed pairs events.

As well as medals for the disciplines, there is also an overall team trophy which was won by England when the event was last staged in 2022.

A new trophy has been donated this year in memory of Bowls Europe director Andy Meekison, of Scotland, who passed away earlier this year.

Ireland currently top the table on 27 points having won two gold and a bronze, England are second on 24 points and Scotland third on 23.
For more information, including live scoring, live streaming, results and tables, see www.bowlseurope.com

RESULTS

MEN’S SECTION

PAIRS

GROUP A

Round 1: Scotland (Aaron Betts, Darren Weir) bt Israel (Selwyn Hare, Dani Slodownik) 20-13; Netherlands (Ralph de Rooij, Frank de Vries) bt France (Maxime Faure, Amaury Dumont) 18-14; Isle of Man (Trevor Quayle, Clive McGreal) bt Hungary (Adam Kromer, Matyas Kiss) 32-3.

Round 2: Scotland bt Netherlands 21-15; France bt Hungary 31-5; Israel bt Isle of Man 19-13.

Round 3: Scotland bt Hungary 40-6; Netherlands bt Israel 24-10; France bt Isle of Man 14-12.

Round 4: Netherlands bt Hungary 28-9; Israel bt France 20-12; Scotland bt Isle of Man 32-10.

Round 5: Israel bt Hungary 23-10; Isle of Man bt Netherlands 23-9; Scotland bt France 20-14.

GROUP B

Round 1: England (Nick Wardle, Joe Dawson) bt Guernsey (Matt Solway, Todd Priaulx) 22-15; Jersey (Kevin Le Long, Ross Davis) bt Turkiye (Eren Bozdemir, Gorkem Duran) 27-7; Switzerland (Jan Klossner, Thomas Walti) bt Sweden (Alexander Backgren, Olle Backgren) 24-13.

Round 2: Guernsey bt Turkiye 27-9; Jersey bt Switzerland 24-8; England v Sweden 28-10.

Round 3: Guernsey bt Switzerland 20-16; England bt Turkiye 34-9; Jersey bt Sweden 30-4.
Round 4: Switzerland bt Turkiye 22-11; Jersey bt England 15-12; Guernsey bt Sweden 38-7.

Round 5: England bt Switzerland 19-9; Turkiye bt Sweden 16-14; Jersey bt Guernsey 16-13.

GROUP C

Round 1: Ireland (Simon Martin, Jack Moffett) bt Spain (Andy Miles, Dave Morrison) 25-10; Czech Republic (Jaroslava Vareckova, Aida Padysakova) drew with Cyprus (George McGill, John McMillan) 13-13.

Round 2: Cyprus bt Spain 18-17; Wales (Ryan Davies, Mark Harding) by Czech Rep 30-8.

Round 3: Wales bt Spain 23-17; Ireland bt Cyprus 27-7.

Round 4: Wales bt Cyprus 22-18; Ireland bt Czech Rep 19-12.

Round 5: Ireland bt Wales 20-19; Spain bt Czech Rep 22-15.

PLAY-OFFS

Netherlands bt Wales 2-1; Netherlands bt England 2-0

SEMI-FINALS

Ireland bt Scotland 17-14; Jersey v Netherlands 22-14.

GOLD MEDAL MATCH

Ireland bt Jersey 19-12.

BRONZE MEDAL MATCH

Scotland bt Netherlands 19-10

TRIPLES

GROUP A

Round 1: Israel (Noam Yehudai, David Trappler, Allan Saitowitz) bt Guernsey (Terry Brokenshaw, Don Ogier, Matthew Le Ber) 24-7; Cyprus (Bob Manson, Scott Ferguson, Loukas Paraskeva) bt Switzerland (Christian Haldimann, Thomas Schneiter, Beat Matti) 21-13.

Round 2: Israel bt Wales 13-12; Guernsey bt Cyprus 26-11.

Round 3: Israel bt Switzerland 21-14; Wales bt Guernsey 18-11.

Round 4: Wales bt Switzerland 22-10; Israel bt Cyprus 20-19.

Round 5: Switzerland bt Guernsey 19-16; Wales bt Cyprus 14-12.

GROUP B

Round 1: Ireland (Ryan McElroy, Shane Leonard, Mark Wilson) drew with England (Jack Emmerson, Martin Spencer, Andrew Briden) 15-15; Czech Rep (Jaroslav Novak, Libor Svaton, Jindrich Svaton) bt Hungary (Gergely Dobos, Mate Dobos, Gabor Foti) 18-11.

Round 2: Ireland bt Hungary 30-12; Czech Rep bt Netherlands 18-12.

Round 3: Ireland bt Netherlands 19-14; England bt Hungary 18-17.

Round 4: Hungary bt Netherlands 21-17; England bt Czech Rep 29-7.

Round 5: England bt Netherlands 21-12; Ireland bt Czech Rep 39-5.

GROUP C

Round 1: Scotland (Blair Davidson, Darren Gaultieri, Dean Riva) bt Spain (Alan Bannister, Tony Mason, Pete Bonsor) 25-8; Isle of Man (David Slack, John Kewley, Michael Collister) bt Jersey (David Black, Greg Davis, Malcolm de Sousa) 18-16.

Round 2: Scotland bt Isle of Man 21-9; Jersey bt Turkiye 29-9.

Round 3: Scotland bt Turkiye 20-13; Spain bt Isle of Man 21-20.

Round 4: Isle of Man bt Turkiye 16-12; Jersey bt Spain 19-10.

SEMI-FINALS

Scotland bt Israel 16-8; England bt Ireland 17-12.

GOLD MEDAL MATCH

England bt Scotland 17-10.

BRONZE MEDAL MATCH

Ireland bt Israel 15-13.

WOMEN’S SECTION

SINGLES

GROUP A

Round 1: Ireland (Shauna O’Neill) bt France (Cindy Royet) 21-12; Cyprus (Sara Trotter) bt Switzerland (Sitana Zaller) 21-9; Guernsey (Lucy Beere MBE) bt Spain (Lisa Bonsor) 21-11.

Round 2: France bt Cyprus 21-20; Guernsey bt Switzerland 21-10; Ireland bt Spain 21-9.

Round 3: Guernsey bt France 21-16; Ireland bt Cyprus 21-9; Spain bt Switzerland 21-5.

Round 4: Guernsey bt Cyprus 21-10; Ireland bt Switzerland 21-1; France bt Spain 21-15.

Round 5: Guernsey bt Ireland 21-12; Cyprus bt Spain 21-11; France bt Switzerland 21-18.

GROUP B

Round 1: Israel (Ruti Gilor) bt Wales (Sara Nicholls) 21-13; Turkiye (Havva Konanc) bt Hungary Sarolta Schrank 21-8.

Round 2: Wales bt Turkiye 21-12; Israel bt Falkland Islands 21-8.

Round 3: Turkiye bt Israel 21-17; Falkland Islands bt Hungary 21-10.

Round 4: Israel bt Hungary 21-1; Wales bt Falkland Islands 21-16.

Round 5: Falkland Islands bt Turkiye 21-16; Wales bt Hungary 21-3.

GROUP C

Round 1: Scotland (Rachel Sinclair) bt England (Amy Pharaoh) 21-15; Isle of Man (Janice Pilling) bt Netherlands (Ineke Spangenberg) 21-13.
Round 2: England bt Isle of Man 21-8; Netherlands bt Jersey 21-10.

Round 3: Jersey bt England 21-19; Isle of Man bt Scotland 21-19.

Round 4: Jersey bt Isle of Man 21-11; Netherlands bt Scotland 21-17.
Round 5: Jersey bt Scotland 21-19; England bt Netherlands 21-8.

PLAY-OFFS

England bt Wales 2-1; England bt Ireland 2-0.

SEMI-FINALS

Jersey bt Guernsey 21-18; England bt Israel 21-4.

GOLD MEDAL MATCH

England 21 Jersey 6.

BRONZE MEDAL MATCH

Guernsey bt Israel 21-12.

FOURS

GROUP A

Round 1: Ireland (Hannah Cochrane, Racheal Cochrane, Lara Reaney, Chloe Wilson) bt Switzerland (Karin Rubin, Heidi Gafner, Andrea Locher, Simone Kunz) 27-4; Scotland (Emma McIntyre, Carla Banks, Megan Grantham, Gail Notman) bt Turkiye (Semra Akyol, Esra Sahin, Melike Cosguner, Merve Deniz) 32-2.

Round 2: Ireland bt Turkiye 17-8; Guernsey bt Switzerland 18-14.

Round 3: Scotland bt Guernsey 24-10; Israel bt Switzerland 23-12.

Round 4: Turkiye bt Israel 12-11; Scotland bt Switzerland 20-10; Ireland bt Guernsey 20-7.

Round 5: Ireland bt Israel 26-10; Turkiye drew with Switzerland 13-13.

Round 6: Guernsey bt Israel 11-10; Scotland bt Ireland 14-9.

Round 7: Turkiye bt Guernsey 16-15; Scotland v Israel 22-6.

GROUP B

Round 1: England (Ruby Hill, Emily Kernick, Nicole Rogers, Harriet Stevens) bt Jersey (Chloe Greechan, Megan Kivlin, Rachel Macdonald, Fiona Archibald) 16-9; Czech Rep (Jaroslava Vareckova, Aida Padysakova, Zuzana Skuhrovcova, Romana Opletalova) drew with Isle of Man (Karen Slack, Marilyn Ellison, Bernice McGreal, Dee Lewis) 12-12; Wales (Lauren Gowen, Jodie McCarthy, Emma Gittins, Caroline Taylor) bt Spain (De Hamilton, Debbie Perryman, Jenny Thompson, Lorna Cormack) 13-12.

Round 2: Isle of Man bt Jersey 14-9; Wales bt Czech Rep 18-5; England bt Spain 51-0.

Round 3: Wales bt Jersey 18-14; Isle of Man bt England 16-13; Czech Rep bt Spain 21-13.

Round 4: Wales bt Isle of Man 13-8; England bt Czech Rep 23-4; Jersey bt Spain 21-5.
Round 5: Wales bt England 17-9; Spain bt Isle of Man 19-8; Jersey bt Czech Rep 18-9.

SEMI-FINALS

Scotland bt England 17-14; Ireland bt Wales 20-8.

GOLD MEDAL MATCH

Ireland bt Scotland 17-11.

BRONZE MEDAL MATCH

Wales bt England 19-5.

 

For mor information on the Championships, including Live Streaming Info, Facebook links, live scoring, schedules and leagues etc – please click here

AUTHOR: Ceris Hewlings, Bowls International