New champions were crowned in the Lowveld Mixed Pairs Bowls competition.

Thirty-three teams gathered in Mbombela during the last two weekends in January to compete in this competition.

This was the first bowls competition in almost a year due to Covid restrictions in 2020.
In addition to these protocols in place to ensure the health of participants, Eloise interrupted play during the round robin phase, resulting in two games being washed out on the Sunday.

The top two teams from each of the six groups qualified for the championship section, while the third and fourth teams played in the plate competition.

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The long lay-off from competitive bowls did not impact on the play quality on display. The champions for the last two years, Francois Hanekom and Annette Stassen (White River), were beaten by Brian Coulson and Elda Rautenbach (LVCC) in a tense game in which the scores were tied at 16 all in the last end, and the game was then decided by a “super end”.

In another close game decided on the last end, Stan Stanton and Toekie Botha (LVCC) beat Ben and Dianne Enslin (Nelspruit) and so qualified to compete in the Mpumalanga play-offs.

In the plate event, Niel Barnardt and Zelda du Plessis (Malalane) had a comfortable 24-10 win against Gavin Geddes and Adri Lockhurst (White River). The Mbombela couple of Danie and Elzette Theron beat Joy Goodison and Ampie Swart (White River) 13-10 to finish third in the plate competition.
 
The Mpumalanga play-offs will take place this weekend at the Nelspruit Bowling Club.