National Championships

Thursday - Singles

Peter Hore (Holmans) failed to progress from the group stages on day one of the ESMBA National Singles Championship played at Kettering Leisure Village, Northamptonshire.

Peter's first game saw him up against 2 times championship winner ('95 & '99) David Coultas (Humberside). Coultas was never in trouble claiming the game 13-1. Peter recovered well in his second game to claim a 12-7 win over Jim Neal (Cheshire) and give himself a chance of qualification.

Mark Jones (Surrey) provided the opposition in the final group game for Peter. A closely fought game saw Jones eventually take the win 9-10 and top spot with three wins out of three. Coultas took the second qualification spot on shot difference from Hore and Neal tied and the bottom of the table.

Jones progressed through the knockout stages eventually losing in the final to Trevor Brown (Oxfordshire) whilst Coultas lost out 9-8 Simon White (Cheshire) in the second round.

GROUP 9 RESULTS Mark Jones (Surrey) 6 +11, David Coultas (Humberside) 2 +8, Peter Hore (Cornwall) 2 -8, Jim Neal (Cheshire) 2 -8

Friday - Pairs

Nigel Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity) & Geoff Lane (Penlee) represented Cornwall in the Pairs on Friday. The day started with a narrow 7-8 defeat to Richard Payne & Jamie Watkiss (Worcestershire). An 11-4 win against Tony Main & Michael Avery (Devon) in the second game and a 9- 6 win against previously undefeated Grant Sollar & Keith Lackford (Cheshire) in the final group stage saw the pair qualify for the last 32 as group runners up.

GROUP 6 RESULTS - Grant Sollar & Keith Lackford (Cheshire 3) 4 +14, Nigel Nicholls & Geoff Lane (Cornwall) 4 +9, Richard Payne & Jamie Watkiss(Worcestershire) 4 -4, Tony Main & Michael Avery (Devon 2) 0 -16

The second round saw Nigel & Geoff up against Devon's James Smith & Lee Tolman who proved too strong winning 13-5 to end the Cornish pairings day.

Saturday - Fours

Geoff Lane (Penlee), Nicholas Truscott (Holmans), Nigel Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity) & Peter Hore (Holmans) started the group stage with a 10-10 draw against the Essex team of Nigel Reed, Matt Sifford, Dave Sifford & Sylvia Scally. The sceond game saw the Cornwall team add to their points tally with a 10-5 win over Hertfordshire team of Adrianne West, Jean Patten, Mary Chadd & Michael West.

The London team of Len Terode, Lucy Torode, Valerie Wren & Eric Chibb provide the opposition in the final group game but proved too strong for the Cornwall team claiming an 11-8 win to take a spot in the last 32 at Cornwall's expense.

GROUP 16 RESULTS - Nigel Reed, Matt Sifford, Dave Sifford & Sylvia Scally (Essex 1) 4 +7, Len Torode, Lucy Torode, Valerie Wren & Eric Cribb (London 1) 4 +6, Geoff Lane, Nicholas Truscott, Nigel Nicholls & Peter Hore (Cornwall) 3 +2, Adrianne West, Jean Patten, Mary Chadd & Michael West (Hertfordshire 3) 0 -15

Sunday - Triples

On the final day of the championships Cornwall were represented by Nicholas Truscott, Nigel Nicholls & Peter Hore in the Triples.

The trio started well with a 12-5 win against the Buckinghamshire team of Brian Latham, Joan Northcott & Val Northcott. The second game saw the previous days losing Fours finalists Steve Proctor, Ste Tinsley & Steve Burrows from Cheshire provide the opposition. A tight match eventually went the way of Cornwall 9-5.

With two wins already in the bag Cornwall went into the last game against the East Sussex team of Malcolm Beard, Paul Seaman & Andrew Beard knowing that a place in the last 32 was already secure. With the East Sussex team also already sure of a last 32 place a closely fought game ensued with East Sussex just edging it 8-7.

The last 32 saw Cornwall up against Roger Green, Gareth Townend and Rose Haynes (North Yorkshire). An initial exchange of 3 scores on the first two ends was followed up by scores of 3, 1, 2 and 2 for North Yorkshire as they opened up a 11-3 lead. Cornwall came back in the 7th end with a score of 3 followed up with a fortuitous 5 in the 8th end to level the scores. The final end saw Cornwall set up a wining position but the North Yorkshire skip was able to move the jack with her last wood and claim 1 to win the game and progress to the last 16 and end Cornwall's National Championship campaign for 2009.