A fantastic entry of 23 young players from across the island took part in the Junior Manx Bowls Championship at Douglas on Saturday.
It was 16-year-old Toby Hart of South Ramsey who came through the field to win. The numbers could well have been higher had some of the younger bowlers who attend the club sessions entered.
Once again there were more girls entered to play than boys, which was great to see, with some impressive bowls by all the players. What impressed most was how well the juniors conducted themselves both on and off the green.
The experience gained from playing in these competitions will help the younger bowlers, but it was the older players who progressed to the latter stages.
Losing out at the quarter-final stage were Sam Colquitt (Marown), who lost 6-21 to Toby Hart, Grace Gawne (Onchan) who was defeated 9-21 by Madison McMullan (Mooragh Park), while Aalish Howarth agonisingly lost out 20-21 to Mooragh Park team-mate Victoria Johnson.
Shannon McMullan (Mooragh Park) had to sit out the quarter-final as her opponent went home feeling unwell.
In the semi-finals Hart was up against Madison McMullan, with Toby playing well to take an assured 21-10 win and in doing so reversing the result against the same opponent last year at the same stage of the competition.
In the other match, Shannon McMullan took a 21-15 victory over clubmate Victoria Johnson.
Hart started off well to take a 4-2 lead in the final, but McMullan played brilliantly to build up a 13-6 advantage with some great lead bowls to put her opponent under pressure.
Retaining his composure, Hart dug in to go on to take eight of the following nine ends and jump into a 17-14 lead, only for McMullan to hit back with two great bowls to trail by one chalk at 16-17.
The match looked finely poised, with the potential of going to the wire, but Hart finished strongly scoring two doubles to win 21-16 and claiming his first junior title.
Association press officer Glynn Hargraves thanked for taking part, Steve Moore for running the competition, Douglas Bowling Club for providing the refreshments and measurers, as well as the team that had prepared the green.