2025 World Bowls Champion of Champions - Day Two Report
The second day of action at the 2025 World Champion of Champions delivered three wins from the five matches that Scotland’s Iain McLean and Jaclyn Neil competed in.
Iain McLean kicked off his day with a nail-biting 1-2 loss to Brendan Ferns of South Africa. Despite taking an early lead with a 7-5 victory in the first set, McLean was narrowly beaten 6-7 in the second set. The contest now entered a three-end tie break with the game there to be won for either player. Sadly for Iain, South Africa held on to win the tie break 2-3 by the finest of margins.
The Scot quickly bounced back in his second match, defeating India’s Putul Sonowal 2-0. A strong performance saw Iain edge through a tight first set 5-4 before dominating the second 9-3. This win was crucial for McLean, keeping him well in contention to qualify from Section 3 at the halfway stage of his group games.
Up next for Iain is three more vital sectional matches on Tuesday 23rd September against Namibia, Niue and Turkey respectively.
In the women’s singles, Jaclyn Neil started day two with a confident 2-0 victory over Catherine Papani from Niue. Jaclyn was in control throughout, cruising to an 8-3 win in the first set before holding her nerve in a tighter second set to secure a 7-6 triumph.
The Arthurlie Bowling Club star faced a tougher challenge in her second match of the day, where she was defeated 0-2 by Malta’s Rebecca Rixon. Despite putting up a spirited fight, Jaclyn couldn’t quite match her opponent’s consistency, falling 4-7 in the first set and 4-6 in the second.
Jaclyn ended the day on a high with an important 1.5-0.5 win over Kumari Mangos of Sri Lanka. After a tense 4-4 draw in the first set, the Scot showed her experience in the second set, coming through 6-3 to seal the victory.
With four wins from her six games completed so far, Jaclyn’s qualification hopes are still well within her own hands in Section 3. Tomorrow she can look forward to taking on South Africa and Tonga.
Keep up to date with all the scores and standings from the 2025 World Champion of Champions here: https://results.mc.worldbowls.com/event/78811cdd-5676-40c7-9750-4dcebb8fe5f1?fbclid=IwY2xjawM8q3xleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFsSjRqaHA0dE5sQ3VqR24xAR4K--y9rXpOyr66qzZvtp9W-sGR7k6HxRkCpsD0V2h7R5K2QbODFYOEoP5ApQ_aem_euCcvFSVgtSAnxYB0YR7IA
A full breakdown of Scotland’s scores from day two can be found below:
Session 1:
- Men’s Singles Group Match 3/8: Iain McLean lost to South Africa (Brendan Ferns) 1-2 (7-5, 6-7 & 2-3)
- Women’s Singles Group Match 4/9: Jaclyn Neil beat Niue (Catherine Papani) 2-0 (8-3 & 7-6)
Session 2:
- Men’s Singles Group Match 4/8: Iain McLean beat India (Putul Sonowal) 2-0 (5-4 & 9-3)
- Women’s Singles Group Match 5/9: Jaclyn Neil lost to Malta (Rebecca Rixon) 0-2 (4-7 & 4-6)
Session 3:
- Women’s Singles Group Match 6/9: Jaclyn Neil beat Sri Lanka (Kumari Mangos) 1.5-0.5 (4-4 & 6-3)