Norfolk Island have bowled their way to a first Commonwealth Games medal in 24 years.
L-R Norfolk Island's Chef de mission, Ryan Dixon, Hadyn “Teddy” Evans and Phil Jones. Photo: RNZ Pacific/Vinnie Wylie
The men's triples team of Phil Jones, Teddy Evans and Ryan Dixon bounced back from a heavy semi final defeat by Scotland to defeat Canada 19-16 in the playoff for bronze.
It's just the second ever Commonwealth Games medal for Norfolk and skip Ryan Dixon said their achievement would take a while to sink in.
"When you first take up this game of bowls one of your dreams is just to get your name up on the board in the club...being able to represent at the Commonwealth Games with your good mates and then to end up with something that your grandkids and even their great-grandkids hopefully will cherish is just a magnificent thing," Dixon said.
"I think we trained a bit harder than possibly teams (from Norfolk Island) have in previous years and we probably looked a little bit in-depth into some tactics and into a gameplan and that kind of thing. We often talk about little one-percenters: I know it's a cliche in sport but there's so many tiny little things that all equate that could just be one shot and, as it turned out, in the quarter final against England it was one shot and that one shot led to the medal."
Teddy Evans is competing at his first Commonwealth Games and hopes their success can be an example to others.
"I've only been playing for four years (and) I'm probably fortunate I've come from other sporting things like rugby league, being not an elite sportsman but a sportsman that knows...it's all about putting training in. So it's a great example to anybody: kids - even adults - to take on a sport, look at what you have to do, look at those textbooks, get coaching and things like that listen to the people who can offer you early sort of information as to how you can get better."
The trio won't have much time to celebrate their success with Phil Jones competing in the men's singles this afternoon and Teddy Evans and Ryan Dixon part of the men's fours.
