Bowls BC member and current Canadian Champion Michael Leong will be heading to Wellington, New Zealand to participate in the 2022 World Championships at the Naenae Bowling Club from November 19th – 26th. This will be the first Champion of Champions event that World Bowls has hosted since the start of the pandemic. Michael has been waiting for his turn to represent Canada at the international stage since he won the Canadian Championships in 2019. The event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the world pandemic.
The 2019 Canadian Singles Championship took place at the Heritage Greens Lawn Bowling Club in Kitchener, Ontario. After navigating pool play, Leong had a tough semi-final match going up against David Anderson where Anderson got off to an early lead. Michael managed to stay focused and complete the comeback winning the match 21 – 20. In the finals, Michael had a tough opponent in Alberta’s Greg Wilson, where his consistent play resulted in once again, a 1-point victory over Wilson with the final score ending 21-20 in favour of our BC’s own. This meant that Michael had officially earned the right to wear the Maple Leaf and represent Canada at the World Bowls Champion of Champions.
This will be the first time that Michael will be representing Canada after a long career. He has worked hard to get to this point and will be out there playing hard for Canada. He has worked hard over the past couple months, training and getting ready for his opportunity overseas.
Ontario’s Cathy Larking was also scheduled to represent Canada at this event, but personal circumstances unfortunately forced her withdrawal. No replacement players are allowed to attend this event.
We wish you nothing but luck and great bowling Micheal from all of us across the Country!
You can follow along with the results here: World Bowls Schedule & Results
World Bowls Champion of Champions
The World Bowls Champion of Champions is an event that started in 2003 that is played annually between bowlers who have won their respective National Singles Championships. The 2022 event is being hosted at the Naenae Bowling Club in Wellington, New Zealand from November 19th-26th.
About World Bowls: https://www.worldbowls.com/about-us/