Lawn bowls team remains optimistic after being shut out of first round of medals

The Canadian lawn bowls team is remaining optimistic after being shut out of the first round of lawn bowls medals today at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Despite having medal potential and several extremely close games, none of the Canadian combinations in action this week advanced after three days of qualifying rounds. Teams include the women’s fours and singles, men’s pairs and triples and the mixed pairs B2/B3 (visually impaired) team.

Starting Sunday, a clean slate begins with competition scheduled for all the remaining combinations – the men’s fours and singles and women’s triples and pairs.

“We start all over again tomorrow,” said team leader Don Caswell. “We finished strong today, so that’s a good sign. The women played outstanding today, but it was too little, too late. We should be stronger in the second half.”

The men’s fours (George Whitelaw (Victoria, B.C.), Kevin Jones (London, Ont.), Chris Stadnyk (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and Tim Mason (Penetanguishene, Ont.) will be the first to play in the new round, on Sunday July 27 at 12:30 against Fiji. Play continues through to July 30 with medal rounds following.

“We start tomorrow night right off the bat,” said Chris Stadnyk, a fours team member. “We’re going in to the fours with some confidence. We’re looking forward to getting on with it.”