Mixed pair keep medal hopes alive

Sonya Woodrow (with director Kimberley Carraher) and Kerrin Wheeler (with director Colin Wheeler) have found themselves in an incredibly tight group with several teams evenly placed.

The New Zealanders had to beat Wales to remain in the medal hunt and finally emerged victorious after a topsy-turvy match. They won 9-0, 4-5, 1-0. After utterly dominating the opening stages, they were up 4-0 in the second set. Then they found themselves losing momentum and Wales snatched the second set 5-4.

The tiebreaker end was a cracker and it hinged on Kerrin Wheeler's final bowl, which gave his team the shot.

In their final match of the day, the mixed pair took on Australia and after winning a tough first set 6-5, the New Zealanders raced away in the second set, winning it 7-1. New Zealand, Scotland and Wales are now joint group leaders, each with one loss in four games.

Meanwhile, the previously unbeaten women's pair of Katelyn Inch and Selina Goddard also found themselves in a third set tiebreaker when they met Canada. This time, however, the New Zealanders didn't get the rub of the green and Canada won the tiebreaker 2-0.

Inch and Goddard began the match slowy, but though they lost the first set 5-4, they seemed to be running into form. They duly took the second set 5-3, but the tiebreaker proved a bridge too far for them.

The result leaves four teams second equal in the group behind Wales. Inch and Goddard have yet to play Wales, so to that extent their fate remains in their hands.