Ajay wins two gold medals at UK event

BOWLS talent Ajay Morphett won two gold medals at the British Isles Indoor Bowls Council Under 18 Mixed Championship.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Oct 2017, 21:17 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 22:17 BST
Ajay Morphett with his medals SUS-171015-153950002Ajay Morphett with his medals SUS-171015-153950002
Ajay Morphett with his medals SUS-171015-153950002

The Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club player was victorious in the singles and triples while representing England in the prestigious annual event at Bristol IBC last weekend.

Morphett won three matches in each discipline across the two days, coming through his quarter-finals and semi-finals on Saturday before winning the finals on Sunday.

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The 16-year-old produced some outstanding bowls to get the better of some high quality opponents from around the UK.

Morphett teamed up with Devon Cooper (Riverain) and Sam Walker (Swale) in the triples, playing as England 2.

They beat the Wales 2 team of Lauren Gowen, Iestyn Williams and Eric Hughes (all Rhondda) 5-3, 7-4, edged out the Scotland 2 team of Megan Kivlin (East Lothian), Craig Mackintosh (East Lothian) and Jack MacNab (Midlothian) on a tie-break after the two sets were shared 4-8, 7-4, and overcame the Scotland 1 team of Michael Stevenson (Inverclyde), Bradley Buchan (Fraserburgh) and Stephen Lowrie (Glasgow) 5-5, 13-4.

In the singles, Morphett convincingly saw off Ireland’s Reece Millar - the player he beat in the final last year - 14-4, 12-4 in his opening game.

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He then scraped past Wales 2 bowler Jack Breen (Cynon Valley) on a tie-break after losing the first set 11-9 and winning the second 13-3.

Morphett retained the title by producing a superb performance to win an incredible game against highly talented Scotland 1 player Dylan Robertson (Abbeyview) 6-5, 6-6.

England - with the points of the England 1 and England 2 players combined - came second in the team standings behind Scotland (Scotland 1 and 2 combined). Wales (Wales 1 and 2 combined) came third, with Ireland and the British Lions joint fourth.

Former Bexhill Academy pupil Morphett has not long since completed another highly successful outdoor season, during which he helped England to victory over Wales in an under-18 Test match and represented Sussex in the under-25 singles at the Bowls England National Championships among other successes.

Morphett - a former national under-15 indoor singles champion - plays for Spartan & Lakeside Bowls Club outdoors in the summer.

Related topics:WalesScotlandEngland