Wee Waa trio compete at Zone 3 State Singles Finals in Gunnedah

Three Wee Waa Bowling Club bowlers competed at the 2023/24 season Zone 3 State Singles Finals in Gunnedah on Saturday, where they came up short of a place in their respective finals.

Paul Andreassen lined up in the open singles, Steve Berger played in the senior singles, and Kyne Allen played in the reserve singles after they had all qualified at Wee Waa Bowling Club earlier this month.

There were eight players in action in all three divisions, who were placed into two pools of four. They all played three pool matches, and the winner of each pool met in the finals on Sunday afternoon.

Andreassen was placed into pool two with Gunnedah’s Scott Thorning, Armidale City’s Paul Bullen and West Tamworth’s Aaron Kelly.

He went down 25 shots to 10 against Kelly in round one but bounced back to beat Bullen 25 shots to 24 in round two.

He needed to beat Thorning in the third and final round for a chance to reach the final, however, he went down 25 shots to 19 and Thorning topped the pool to advance.

The winner of the other pool was Tim Thorning, which saw a father-and-son final contested on Sunday morning. Tim won that game 25 shots to 22 to beat his dad and be crowned Zone 3 singles champion.

In the senior singles division, Berger was placed into pool two alongside Glen Innes’ Paul Jopson and South Tamworth duo Greg Harris and Leslie Goodchild.

The Wee Waa bowler went down 25 shots to 21 against Harris in the first round but fought back to prevail 25 shots to 21 in round two against Goodchild and 25 shots to 12 against Jopson in round three.

Harris won his round two and three games as well to top the group and move onto the final, which he won 25 shots to 10 against South Tamworth Bowling Club bowler Jeffrey Myers on Sunday morning.

In the reserve singles, Allen was put into pool two with Bingara’s Tim O’Grady and Glen Innes duo Peter Hutton and Robert Thomas.

While the Wee Waa youngster lost all three of his games, he went close to a win in all of them.

He was downed 25 shots to 21 in the opening round by Thomas, 25 shots to 23 by O’Grady in round two, and then 25 shots to 24 by Hutton in round three.

Thomas eventually won the pool before he went down 25 shots to 13 against Uralla’s Alan Hine the next morning in the decider.