Manx Short Mat Bowls Association sent a team to the World Short Mat Bowls Championships in Scotland last week.

The Isle of Man representative team was making a return to the event after an absence of six years.

Hosted by Aberdeen, the competition took place over three days involving the countries of Germany, Belgium, England, Italy, Norway, India, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

The Manx team consisted of 13 players and a reserve, facing extremely strong opposition, so to come away with 12 wins and a draw was impressive to say the least.

Colin Kelly played singles, defeating the players from Canada, Norway and Germany to finish seventh in the group of 10.

Fellow Marown men Neil Withers and Phil Kelly played doubles (similarly in their first Short Mat competition), beating Canada and Germany to finish eighth in their group.

Tom Kelly, Collin Holland and Arnie Withers made up the men’s triples team, beating Netherlands and Canada to also finish eighth, similar to Claire Hussain, Jayne Smith and Sheila Durcan in the women’s who beat Canada and Germany to yet again finish eighth in group.

The fours team of Seamus Whelan, Bernie Durcan, Steve Durcan and Chris Holland had wins against Canada and Sweden, in addition to a drew against Norway to finish sixth in group.

Wales, Ireland and England were the dominant teams across the event, with the winners: singles – England; doubles – Wales; triples – Wales; fours - Ireland.

Plans are now underway to send a team to compete in the 2024 World Short Mat Bowls Championships in Belfast next March. With applications received from the Philippines and Falklands to join the annual event, things are looking up for the sport of short mat bowls.