The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 27

Roche comes back from the (o)tlQen)SSDDK? oeS Dt easfiDy wiiaerness witn strong win surfing KIRKWILLCOX BOWLS a BOWLERS JIM McMENAMIN h-zV: -ass 0 Nathan Webster shows his winning style. Picture by tim clayton Dorothy Roche, of Merrylands, shares with clubmate Willow Fong (formerly Fiji and Dover Hts) the distinction of winning more international medals than any two members of the same club in the world. Roche has won 10 and Fong 16 to total 26 international medals. Fong has nine gold, three silver and four bronze while Roche has collected five gold, four silvers and one bronze. Roche established another world first in 1988 when she skipped both the Australian triples and fours teams to gold medals in the sixth Women's World Bowls Championships at Henderson, Auckland, NZ.

Two years later, she skipped our fours for another gold in the Commonwealth Games at Auckland. At that time, her mother's health began to decline and for the next two years she tended to her needs. It was not surprising, therefore, that Roche's bowling began to deteriorate. She was dropped not only from the Australian side for Women's World Bowls at Ayr, Scotland, in June this year, but also from the NSW side. With her mother now in a nursing home, Riche has given the lie to the old saying "champions never come back" by winning the State Champion of Club Singles Champions against Eula Webster (West Epping) 25-18 at Ashbury last weekend.

This breakthrough should give her the motivation to regain her place in both the NSW and national sides. award at the event, the Mark Sainsbury Memorial prize for the best floater. The $500 and trophy was won by Narrabeen's Mark Bannister, who destroyed a right-hander for a perfect 10 score across the judging sheets. Besides the long floater across the section into the bowl, Bannister also did a big outside snap, a strong comeback and a series of turns into the shore break North Narrabeen's Brett Warner said of the final: "They got the waves and we were just out of rhythm." Queenscliff won $5,000 plus a trophy for their victory while North. -Narrabeen pocketed $2,500 and a trophy.

On Saturday, a women's wild card team surfed against Cronulla in round one, with Southend's Leanne Bonello competing. The women were defeated 145.5-78 over Queenscliff took out the 1992 Quiksilver Surf League competition last weekend with a dominant performance in the grand final when it defeated North Narrabeen by 20 points. It was Queenscliffs second win in a row, and third victory in the nine-year history of the national competition. The final was held in tricky, one-metre-plus onshore waves at North Narrabeen. Queenscliff spokesman, Paul Burnett, said the surf "turned it on for us instead of for them.

It seemed that everywhere our guys paddled, they got onto another good one," Burnett said. Queenscliff established an early lead in the final with Richie Lovett posting a 22.5 against Joel Fitzgerald's 16.5. They were never headed throughout the one-hour match, with dou-ble-whammy surfer Rob Bain scoring 33 against Mark Bannister's 31.5; Barton Lynch's 28.5 against Greg Anderson's 18.5; Merrick Davis' 21 against Nathan Webster's 24.5 and Kurt Jacobs' 9.5 against Brett Warner's 3.5, with time running out The final score was 114.5-94.5. Queenscliff defeated Queensland Club Snapper Rocks in the first semi-final, while North Narrabeen knocked out Cronulla in the second semi-final. Cronulla just made it to the semis after tying with Catherine Hill Bay, 86-aIl, in their quarter-final match.

The clubs had to have a 10-minute surf-off over two waves to decide the match, with Jake Spooner paddling out for Cronulla and Damien Iredale surfing for Catherine Hill Bay. Iredale scored a 4.5 on his first wave which Spooner followed with a 6. Spooner then caught another 6, for a total of 12. Iredale scored a 7, to narrowly lose The APSA presented a special Dorothy Roche back in line for State honours. On resumption, Fraser was a little slower than his experienced opponent to re-adjust his technique, scoring only three shots to Downes 12 to leave scores level at 29-29.

But Downes, a State player, notched the requisite two shots to qualify for the final, which he lost to Bob Reynolds (Panania) 31-17. 6 Everywhere our guys paddled, they got onto a good one. before snapping under the lip. Former world champion, Barton Lynch, was outstanding for the Queenscliff two sets in windblown, sloppy conditions. The President of the APSA, Graham Cassidy, said the team put in a very creditable perfor-like to see that mance.

"We'd The Coogee Open Mixed Pairs tournament continues to attract entries from all over the State, and the eastern suburbs supplied three of the four semi-finalists from the 46 teams. In the first semi, Margaret Crighton (Merrylands) and Maurie Slade (Denistone East) overwhelmed Marg Tilby (Randwick) and Steve Burns (Camperdown) 29-10. In the second, Dorothy Wotherspoon and John Parker (both Taren Point) beat Mavis and Bill Addinall (Kens), 17-16. However, Crighton and Slade scored a convincing 22-15 win over Dorothy and John in the final. team during the weekend's final series.

Lynch consistently racked up the points with solid rides on the occasionally good waves that came through. "Yeah, I felt really good," Lynch said after the final. "It kind of gets a bit shallow sometimes when you're doing it for yourself, but when it's a team thing it's something different." movement continue with the womeif playing a bigger part in Surf Quiksilver's Rikki Jansen said the company would definitely sponsor the event again next year. "It looks like at this stage, unofficially, the finals will be on the Gold Coast again so we'll have some warm weather." During the weekend, Bob Fraser, the 48-year-old greenkeeper at Grand-views was prevented from reaching the final of the AGC Champion of Club Singles Champion at South Coogee by fickle weather. He was leading Nev Downes (Taren Pt) 26-17 when rain stopped play and altered the pace of the green.

BRIEFS Comets are basket heroes Raiders win Bondi Raiders will be going for their sixth successive NSW Gridiron Football League title this Saturday, following their 54-10 semi-final thrashing of Canberra last Sunday. Quarterback Paul Kohn starred for the Raiders, rushing for five touchdowns and passing for three more. Saturday's grand final at Brookvale Oval will be the fourth year running that Bondi has met Sydney University in the season decider. ADRIAN WARREN Saville takes silver medal Little Bay resident Jane Saville produced a sensational performance to win a silver medal in the women's 5.000 walk at the World Junior Athletics Championship in Seoul, South Korea, last Sunday. Jane, 17, a Year 12 Sydney Girls High student, fought her way from last to second in the field of 35 and clipped five seconds off her personal best time.

with two other players with NBL experience. Don Bickett (ex-Illa-warra) and Robert Croker (ex-Sydney Supersonics) claimed plenty of rebounds and played good defence. Guard Graham Davis (ex Supersonics) also proved a dogged defender and the mid-season addition of former Newcastle forward James Carr gave the Comets seven men with NBL experience. Sydney finished second in its conference with a 20-4 record and saved its very best for the last two matches. The Comets blitzed Bulleen 119-101 in the semi-finals and outclassed Ballarat in the final.

Diminutive Monck, the smallest player on the court at 175 cm, won the Most Valuable Player award. Together with Everett (who was voted finals MVP) Monck set up an unassailable Sydney lead with a string of three-pointers in the second quarter. Page 28: East rugby team invincible The Slammers beat the Comets in both their regular season games, but, ironically, West Sydney was probably indirectly responsible for the CBA title ending up at Alexandria. Former Illawarra forward Norman Taylor trained with the Comets and was expected to fill their second import spot, but the Slammers spirited him away before the season started. Taylor's decision initially caused anguish at Alexandria, but ultimately it proved to be a blessing for the Comets.

Martin chose former Newcastle backcourt ace Jerry Everett as his second import, alongside Ridlen, and the Comets suddenly bad the perfect balance of inside-outside players. The long range shooting of Everett and another new recruit David Monck (ex-Canberra) gave Sydney a pair of sharp-shooting guards. Former Kings star Ridlen proved the scoring punch inside and along By ADRIAN WARREN The Alexandria-based Sydney Comets stepped into the limelight last Sunday when it became the first club from the Harbour City to win a national basketball competition. The Comets beat Victorian club Ballarat 117-90 in the Continental Basketball Association final in Melbourne to complete what their CBA All-Star centre Marc Ridlen accurately described as "a Cinderella" story. The Comets made the quarterfinals last season, but for this year coach Cliff Martin assembled a new-look team which was finalised only two weeks before the new campaign began.

Before the season started, the Comets were a distant third in a three-team field in the Sydney basketball publicity stakes. Understandably, National Basketball League side Sydney Kings earned most of the media attention but the Comets were also being out-headlined by their CBA cross-town rival, West Sydney Stammers. 1 2AMG5VJDCCI COOGEE AT.1ATEUQ Sl7lf.ir.HCJG CLUB fl 992-3 SEASON Begins Saturday 26th September 1992 At Wylies Baths, Coogee New Members Welcome irji Petersham loses test player, hires another I LEARN TO SWIM CLASSES commence Saturdav 1 not been all one way. The club has secured the services of State Colts spinner Adam Smith and prolific opening batsman, John Boyd, has returned to Waverley after a couple of years in England. Test all-rounder Greg Matthews will captain Waverley on Saturday, but batsman Mark Patterson will lead the club for most of the season.

Balmain has suffered a player drain and will be forced to rely on youth. In the opening round, Waverley will play Fairfield at Trumper Park, Randwick host Petersham at Coogee Oval and Balmain will entertain Hawkesbury at Drum-moyne OvaL ADRIAN WARREN last season's leading wicket-taker in Sydney, spinner Wayne Mulherin, who is working in the United States. Joining Capel on the England A tour will be Hussain's Essex county colleague, Paul Prichard, who captained Waverley to the title last summer. Prichard, recently named county championship player of the season, is one of four members of the Waverley grand final team who will not return to the club this summer. The other three are batsman and vice captain Darren Kingdon, West Indian fast bowler Malcolm Marshall and English batsman Gareth Townsend.

The Craffk around Waverley has Petersham Cricket Club has pulled off the big recruiting coup of the new Sydney Grade season starting this Saturday, but Randwick looms as the major threat to defending premier Waverley. Petersham has signed up Indian-born England test batsman Nasser Hussain as its club coach for the coming season. He will replace another test player, all-rounder David Capel, who will tour Australia with the England A team. Petersham hopes to have Sydney's batting average winner from last season, Graeme Hughes, available on a regular basis, depending upon his television commitments. However, the club has lost the services of 14 th November 1992 fa 1 665-2038 details 399-3877 I THE EASTERN HERALD, Thursday.

September 24, 1932 27.