THE Men's Singles and Mixed Pairs finals have been staged at Wellington Bowling Club, organised by competition secretary Janet Moore.

Both matches were closely fought but Phil Ellis won the Men's Singles against Tony Gibson while Ian Hollingsworth and June Anderson became the Mixed Pairs champions after beating Darren Sparks and Wendy Scott.

Early on in the singles, Phil Ellis had a close battle against Rob Higgs, winning it 21 – 15. Steve Bradnum also gave him a good game in the semi-final but Phil won 19 – 15.

Leading up to the final, Tony Gibson was hard-pressed by Alan May but managed to win 19 – 17. He had another close tussle in the semi-final against Bill Warnett which he won 20 – 19.

The final between Phil and Tony was close. After five ends Tony Gibson had a comfortable 8 – 1 lead but by the tenth Phil had clawed his way back and it was nine shots apiece. Then Phil powered ahead to make it 19 -11. In the last ends Tony fought back hard and had almost caught up when the bell rang and Phil Ellis was the victor by 21 shots to 18.

In the Mixed Pairs, Ian Hollingsworth and June Anderson had a hard battle in the first round against Alan Moore and Janet More but they came through 14 – 10. They reached the final after winning two more matches against strong opposition.

Darren Sparks and Wendy Scott also came through the early rounds fairly easily. Unfortunately, their semi-final opponents were unable to play so they were automatically awarded a place in the final.

In the final, Darren and Wendy led 6 – 0 and by the sixth they were still six shots up leading 8 – 2 but with a 5 and a 4 in consecutive ends Ian and June took the lead and won a close battle 16 – 12.