A disastrous opening session on the third day at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in threatening to derail two of Australia’s leading medal hopes in the lawn bowls competition.
After weathering an early onslaught in Delhi, Australia’s women’s pairs and men’s triples, gold medallists in Melbourne, now have a fight on their hands to reach the post-sectional rounds, with any further slip-ups capable of ending their title defence.
With both outfits drawn to meet South Africa this morning, the women’s pairs combination of Lynsey Armitage and Natasha Van Eldik were on the wrong side of the rub for a successive day as Brunhilde Rossouw and Colleen Webb claimed an 8-8, 10-7 victory.
Having defeated the Australian duo at the same venue in the final of the Eight Nation Test Event in April, the loss added yet another chapter to the growing rivalry between the combinations, with Armitage understandably disappointed with the outcome.
“We’ve just got to keep plugging away,” Armitage said.
“Last time round when I won gold four years ago we dropped two games in our sectional play, so who knows, we’ve just got to try and win our next few and keep playing well and let our bowls do the talking.”
