Australian Men’s Team Returns Following Tough Competition in Hong Kong

The World Men’s Championship concluded on Wednesday in Hong Kong where the Australian Men’s team missed out on winning medals at the SCAA bowling Centre and the USA finished on top of the medal tally.

When the singles competition got underway on day one, Australia got their first look at the challenging conditions.  Adam Hayes was the best of the Aussies averaging 206 across the six games to finish the singles competition in 45th place.  Queenslander Jarrod Langford was the next best in 57th averaging 202.

In the doubles event, the Aussies continued to battle the lane conditions, and it was the pairing of Michael Murray and Jarrod Langford who finished the best of the group in 53rd place.

Leading into the trios and with the Americans dominating the singles and doubles competitions, the Australians fought through the six games to see the trio of Lachlan Merchant, Blayne Fletcher and Sam Cooley finish 46th and 533 pins behind gold medallists Korea.

With the Australians still trying to adapt to the conditions, it was the team’s event where they had their best finish of the event.  Being led by Hayes, who averaged 184 across six games and with Merchant also making a valuable contribution, averaging 192, and Blayne Fletcher kicking in games of 200, 214 and 201, the Aussies finished in 31st overall, their highest finish in the 11-day event.

With the Aussies watching on in the Masters event, Mitch Hupe of Canada defied all odds by defeating Kyle Troup of USA, 2-0 in the finals to win the coveted Masters Gold medal.  With all the medals decided, it was USA who emerged as the overall champion with a medal haul of 2-4-2 and Malaysia finishing in second with two gold medals.

Results available here.

Photos courtesy of Living & Loving Photography, Lyn Fletcher