Australia Junior Championships
The Australian Under-18 Championships commence today at the Tuggeranong Valley Lawn Bowls Club in the ACT. The event will be staged over the next three days with 10 players, five boys and five girls, competing in singles, pairs, triples and fours.
Today will see our juniors take on Northern Territory first in the girls singles and fours, before again tackling them in the pairs and triples, while the boys play the opposite disciplines and then against Western Australia later in the day.
The team will see 3 debutants make their first appearance at the junior nationals. Mitchell banks has been gifted the coveted singles role for the Tasmanian boys team in his first appearance for the tigers, while William Coad will also make his debut leading for Banks in the triples and also starting the boys off in the fours outfit. Jorji Walker will be the sole girl to experience her inaugural junior nationals after representing the Tasmanian under 18 team in their test match against Victoria last December.
The Girls team boasts an extremely experienced outfit, with 4 of the girls resuming their positions from last year, headlined by Hollie Keen and Makayla Gibson who recently debuted in the Tasmanian Women’s open team in April. The pairs will see the “Mak Attack” duo of Gibson and Mikayla Fuller reunite in an attempt to go one better from the silver medal that they collected at last year’s Nationals. Ebony White rounds out the girls team retaining her spot in the team.
Josh Appleyard, Julian Brown and Lachie Sims will be the experienced trio of the boys team as they retain their positions from last year. Sims has been promoted into the skips positions in the men’s fours and Pairs where he will partner with Appleyard. The two have recently returned from a stint competing in the Australian Open men’s pairs together and will be hoping this holds them in good stead. While Brown has cemented his place in the boys team after getting a last minute call up last year as the emergency, he will play the ever important role as third in the fours and triples.
Junior Girls Team
Singles: Makayla Gibson
Pairs: Mikayla Fuller & Makayla Gibson (s)
Triples: Ebony White, Jorji Walker & Hollie Keen (s)
Fours: Ebony White, Jorji Walker, Mikayla Fuller & Hollie Keen (s)
Emergency: Amy White
Junior Boys Team
Singles: Mitchell Banks
Pairs: Josh Appleyard & Lachie Sims (s)
Triples: William Coad, Julian Brown & Mitchell Banks (s)
Fours: William Coad, Josh Appleyard, Julian Brown & Lachie Sims (s)
Emergency: Josh Walker-Davis
