2023 World Bowls Championships: Pairs preview
The pairs disciplines at the 2023 World Bowls Championships on the Gold Coast will be hotly contested with former winners and international stars set to do battle in the three-bowl format.
Only one of the four defending champions will take part in the event again as Australia’s Aaron Wilson aims to defend his crown but this time with Aaron Teys instead of his 2016 partner in Brett Wilkie.
Neither of Wales’ Christchurch winning pair of Laura Daniels or Jess Sims will take part in the discipline, but Daniels will be in attendance in Queensland, set to skipper the triples and fours for her country.
The Welsh will be represented by Sara Nicholls and Ysie White as both look for their maiden titles at the tournament, while the 2016 runner up in New Zealand will also boast a different lineup to that of seven years ago as 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Selina Goddard and Katelyn Inch front up for the Blackjacks.
Both New Zealanders bring solid form having conquered the women’s pairs event at the Multi Nations on the Gold Coast in March.
Australia will have a huge target on their backs at home, but even more so because Birmingham gold medallists and best friends Kristina Krstic and Ellen Ryan will be the combatants at their debut World Championships.
The Jackaroos won a famous final on UK soil last year against England’s Sophie Tolchard and Amy Pharaoh, who will also be rekindling their partnership for the tournament as both look to add to their medal count at the event with Tolchard claiming a bronze with Ellen Falkner in the pairs in 2016 and Pharaoh a gold in the fours in 2004.
Malaysia’s Aleena Nawawi and Nurul Alyani Jamil will prove to be a handful for anyone they face, as will the Norfolk Island pairing of former singles champion Carmen Anderson and Shae Wilson.
Anderson finds herself in form with a run to the pairs final at the Australian Open, while Wilson’s consistency has been magnificent across all disciplines in recent months.
Canada will boast Kelly McKerihen and Jordan Kos, with the former already in ominous form ahead of the tournament.
Finally, Ireland will bring Asleigh Rainey and Sarah Kelly to the discipline, with both enjoying valuable time on the Gold Coast greens at the Multi Nations in March.
The men’s event will see the biggest challengers to the Australian title defence being the Welsh Commonwealth Games winning duo of Daniel Salmon and Jarrad Breen, who will look to maintain the solid form that they have already exhibited as a pair.
Wilson and Teys will mount a strong case for the home nation as both played in the men’s pairs final at the Australian Open, but on opposing sides as the former saluted with Ben Twist.
Scotland’s pairing of Jason Banks and Iain McLean will look to build on their nation’s rich history in the discipline, having won it on three occasions since 1992.
England’s Ed Morris and Sam Tolchard will carry their country’s hopes as they look to become the first ever English pair to clinch gold in the event, while Ireland’s Gary Kelly and Adam McKeown strive to win a second title in the discipline and first since 1996.
2004 champion Ryan Bester is back for Canada with teammate John Bezear as he looks to add to his count of five medals at the event.
Finally, New Zealand’s Tony Grantham and Andrew Kelly and Malaysia’s representatives of Idham Amin Ramlan and Izzat Dzulkeple will look to assert themselves as a contender for one of the sport’s biggest prizes.
The World Bowls Championships runs from August 29 to September 10, 2023, on the Gold Coast.
