Lorraine celebrates more national success

LORRAINE KUHLER clinched a hat-trick of national junior pairs titles at Leamington Spa on Sunday.
Lorraine Kuhler (left) celebrates winning the national junior pairs with Emma CooperLorraine Kuhler (left) celebrates winning the national junior pairs with Emma Cooper
Lorraine Kuhler (left) celebrates winning the national junior pairs with Emma Cooper

The 25-year-old Homefield Park bowler had previously won the junior pairs trophy with Staplecross’s Emma Cooper in 2012 and 2013 but they did not qualify last year.

However, the duo lifted the title again this year after a 20-6 win over Yorkshire duo Naomi King and Amy King in the final. The Sussex pair had overcome Warwickshire 21-12 in the quarter-finals and Kent 16-11 in the last four.

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It is the fourth successive year Kuhler has won a national title, after she won the national triples with Sian Honnor and Helen Jones last year.

It was Kuhler’s last year in junior competitions and she was delighted to go out with a trophy. She said: “I’m really pleased to have won it again and to win it three times in four years is amazing, really.

“This year was my last in the junior section, so it’s a nice way to finish my under-25 career. I really enjoyed it but the greens can be quite tricky and take a while to get used to.

“It would be nice to get to the finals again next year and try to get another senior title.”

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In this year’s National Championships, Kuhler was involved in three other events, reaching the second round of the fours, third round of the two-wood singles and second round of the junior two-wood singles.

She said: “We didn’t play well in the fours but went out to the eventual winners, I played well in the two-wood singles but lost my third game and the junior singles I only lost 21-19.”

Kuhler has a quiet time for the rest of the year now as she has already been selected to represent the senior England team next year. She said: “It’s very nice to be selected already as the trials are in September and the matches take place in June. There’s not much ladies’ bowls for the rest of the year, so it means the pressure is on when you go for the trials if you haven’t played competitively for a while.”

Worthing Bowls Club’s Richard Maton is in action in the men’s two-wood singles championship at Leamington Spa next week. The Sussex champion plays his first match of the championships on Tuesday.

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