2025 Nationals: Day 5 wrap
The 2025 Para Nationals enthralled the bowls community on a scintillating day of action at the Burnie Bowls Club with the first gold medals decided in spectacular fashion.
Fresh off her World Cup mixed pairs gold medal, Serena Bonnell has capped off another superb week by sealing her fourth consecutive singles crown at The Nationals thanks to a 21-5 win over Annette Ruffle to maintain her unbeaten run in Tasmania.
New South Wales’ Carolyn Nelson would earn silver with South Australia’s Susan Kruger finishing with the bronze.
Bonnell’s Queensland and Right at Home Para Jackaroo teammates in Cheryl Lindfield and Louise Hoskins would also go unbeaten in the women’s pairs to seal the title, securing a gritty 15-13 win over Western Australia’s Lesly Marshall and Jodie Nikolic before making sure of gold with a 16-5 salutation against Victoria’s Stella Durdin and Alison East.
The most exciting finish of the penultimate day came in the men’s triples with one point separating the top four teams on the table.
Starting the day in third position, Victoria’s Lucas Protopapas, Josh Barry and Josh Thornton would secure a remarkable gold after two pulsating matchups against Queensland and Western Australia.
Placed a win and 27 shots adrift of the maroons’ Brett Sellars, Clive Williams and Damien Delgado, the Victorians squandered a 9-3 buffer to sit at 10-all with four ends to play.
However a monstrous full count on end 13 saw them run out to a ten-shot win and cut the overall shot gap to seven ahead of the final session.
New South Wales sat first with one round left, but a last end defeat at the hands of eventual bronze medallists South Australia saw them head to the bye needing both Queensland and Victoria to lose their games to Tasmania and Western Australia respectively.
It was looking promising for Michael Vassallo, Aaron Kelly and James Reynolds as Tasmania moved to an 11-6 buffer and Western Australia leading 7-1.
But in a session where three states held gold, Victoria snatched a remarkable draw thanks to a rub to secure a two in the final end against their western counterparts for a 13-all scoreline and sit with provisional gold ahead of New South Wales.
It left Queensland needing a four in the deciding end against the Apple Isle to take gold, but Tasmania secured a two to win 18-11 after the concluding end.
That left the maroons in severe danger of dropping out of the medals on shots, which eventuated thanks to South Australia’s team of Kevin Bowkett, Aaron Emonson and Chris Flavel defeating the ACT 27-4 to take the last medal by five shots.
Bowkett himself is a remarkable story, a member of Rosny Park in Tasmania, he was asked to fill in as a late replacement for one of the ill South Australians.
As it turns out, his home state’s victory over Queensland would ensure him of a medal at the competition.
Finally, the women’s triples sees Hoskins, Lindfield and Hoskins needing to win their final matchup against Western Australia to take a clean sweep of the women’s events.
Bowls Australia thank and acknowledge Devonport Country Club and Devonport City Council for their partnership in hosting these Nationals, made possible alongside the support of the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania.
The 2025 Nationals will run from November 10-28, 2025, with live streaming to take place on Bowls Australia’s YouTube channel from the 10th.
