Western Australia's Noelene Abe will be chasing a unique double when the National Champion of Champions gets under way in Mandurah tomorrow (28/10).
Not only will the WA veteran, who last season claimed the state's 'outstanding female bowler' award, contest the coveted singles competition, but she will also line-up in the women's pairs skipping for fellow state representative Kerry Andersen, providing her with twice as many opportunities to etch her name onto the silverware.
As the only player, male or female, in Mandurah this week who has qualified for the singles and pairs, Abe has already accomplished a spectacular feat to win her way through to both events.
"I would like to think I'm in similar form to last year,' Abe said on the eve of the tournament.
"But it's on carpet, which is not my preferred surface.
"I hope to play well and obviously I would like to win it, but I'd just like to be competitive and do as well as I can.
"I think Kerry and myself are a very good combination in the pairs, I'm probably more confident in the pairs than in the singles because we are very used to playing with one another, both read the head the same and combine very well."
With a berth in next year's World Champion of Champions in Cyprus at stake in the singles, Abe will commence her campaign against Northern Territory's Arlene Foley before a testing second round assignment against Australian captain Lynsey Armitage and a final pool game against the ACT's Sharon Harmer.
Given the cut-throat nature of the competition, with only the section winner of each pool progressing through to the final, she is under no illusions to the difficulty of the task at hand.
"Lynsey will be very, very tough to beat," Abe said.
"Arlene Foley, who has played for the Northern Territory for over 20 years, is a very tough competitor too, so they are going to be really tough games.
"I'll just try to take each game as it comes and hope that I can come up with the goods at the right time."
In the pairs, Abe and Andersen will first meet NT's Colleen Orr and Therese Smith, before earning a reprieve with a bye in round two, and will then face ACT's Joan Trounce and Helena Megee in the final contest.
