Para bowlers so close to gold

New Zealand’s open para B6/B7/B8 triple went within millimetres of winning a bowls gold medal today.

The three New Zealand men, Bruce Wakefield, Barry Wynks and Mark Noble, fought bravely throughout the final against Australia, only to go down 14-13.

After trailing for 11 ends, the New Zealanders finally got their noses in front 13-12 heading to the last end. That end was a thriller. The Australians sent down a couple of perfectly weighted shots just when they needed them to snatch the two points they needed.

The result mirrors the silver medal two of the New Zealand triple, Wynks and Noble, won in Glasgow four years ago.

Wakefield said the match continued a summer of dramatic contests with the Australians. “We’ve really battled it out,” he said. “They were perfect right at the end when they needed to be.

“But what a game. It was unbelievable. We fought hard to get back into it. We were holding the win in our hands and they took it off us. it was frustrating to miss the gold by millimetres.”

Noble said the New Zealanders really dug in to get the lead back and that the result was a case of a repeat of Glasgow.

Wynks said he had expected a close match. “We knew what they were going to dish up,” he said. “Maybe we need to go for third time lucky.”

The New Zealand men’s four of Mike Nagy, Blake Signal, Paul Girdler and Ali Forsyth exited the competition in disappointing fashion.

After edging out Wales 11-10 in their first match and finishing unbeaten in their pool, they were totally outplayed by England in their quarter-final and went down 20-2.

Forsyth said the conditions should have been perfect for them and that the team’s play had been “pretty ordinary”.

“Credit to England. They played pretty solidly, but we were completely outbowled. It’s extremely disappointing,” he said.