Gold for Smith, silver for Cahill at Junior World Bowls Indoors
Australia’s Brianna Smith has claimed her maiden world title at the Junior World Bowls Indoor Championships in Belfast while her compatriot Nick Cahill will fly home with a silver medal after a drama filled day where both finals were decided by tiebreaks.
It was so close in fact that Smith’s result was determined by an umpire measure against Hong Kong’s Yu Yee Sin.
The 23-year-old was quick out of the blocks and raced through the opening set 11-5 before Yu took a tight second stanza 6-5 to force the decider.
From there the Hong Kong native held game with an exquisite draw shot before inch perfect Smith’s runner disturbed the head and caused the measure.
The result was in the hands of umpire Mike Clewer, who after examining each bowl on numerous occasions declared that Brianna Smith was a world champion by a minuscule margin.
The Emerging Jackaroo adds the gold medal to the silver she won with Cahill in the mixed pairs.
Cahill was in action first against England’s Harry Goodwin, who got the better of the Queenslander in straight sets in their opening sectional match of the event.
However, the story was different with the gold medal on the line as the Australian raced to an 11-6 lead in the opening set before holding on to take it 11-10.
The momentum seemed firmly with the Broadbeach local as he gained a 4-2 lead in the second before Goodwin reeled off seven consecutive shots to take it 9-4 and force a tiebreak.
From there the Englishman was in control, forcing the 20-year-old Cahill to play with weight to no avail, confirming a second gold for the English following their mixed pairs triumph on the previous day.
