Benoni bowler wins bronze at the Commonwealth Games
Piketh picks up a singles bronze, eyes gold in the pairs.
Colleen Piketh will be bringing back a bronze medal from the Commonwealth Games, on the go on Australia’s Gold Coast, after victory over Canada’s Kelly McKerihen in the bronze medal play-off on March 8.
It was no easy feat for the Rynfield resident who initially found herself in a tough preliminary pool section, drawn with Catherine Beattie, Tongan Malia Kioa and current World Bowls women’s singles champion Karen Murphy.
Piketh won two of her three match-ups in the preliminary rounds, winning 21-13 over Beattie and 21-4 over Kioa.
She was defeated 21-16 against Murphy and finished in second place in the pool.
A random draw for the next round (the top two bowlers advancing from the pool) saw the Benonian again pitted against Murphy in a rematch which Piketh described as a “titanic battle”.
“It was a night game, played in front of massive stands of partisan Australian supporters, which was very unpleasant,” said the lawn bowling star who won gold and bronze medals at the 2014 Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
“People said to me afterward that my mental strength to get through that game was quite something.”
Piketh indeed proved her mental power by putting herself into medal-winning contention with a 21-19 win over the local favourite.
“I had to compete with her, get the shot and then contend with a partisan home crowd.
“That was difficult, but fortunately I managed to get through that and many people said that they don’t know how I did.”
Piketh found herself 4-0 down after three ends and then 7-1 down by the sixth.
By the 10th end she had moved into the lead (8-7).
At the 23rd end she was 19-18 down, but the Aussie was unable to add to her score as Piketh moved three clear for the win.
This saw her advance to the semi-final where she faced off against New Zealand’s Jo Edwards for a potential spot in the gold medal final.
Piketh went down 21-17 to Edwards in a clash which went down to the wire.
She was on the back foot for much of the game, trailing by as many as four shots on occasions, but she pulled back to square matters at 15-15 on the 19th end.
She then edged ahead and on the 21st she led by two shots (17-15).
That was where her challenge unfortunately ended as Edwards added six more scores to wrap things up.
She would then play McKerihen in the bronze medal play-off, where she would pick up South Africa’s fourth bronze medal of the Games when she beat McKerihen 21-17.
Just like her semi-final, Piketh had to come from behind, 5-0 down after two ends.
It got worse and she was 4-11 down after six.
She then clawed her way to 11-11 and took the lead for the first time on the 15th end.
All square on the 18th at 17-17, Piketh then powered her way to earning a bronze medal.
Her attention quickly turned to the women’s pairs discipline where she teamed up with Nicolene Neal to get a first round 23-6 win for Team South Africa over Jersey on April 9.
The duo were in action again against Northern Ireland on April 10.
They beat Northern Ireland 20-12 and had to come back from a 0-5 deficit after four ends, but got back on track right away.
After the 12th end Northern Ireland were unable to add to their tally.
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