Hartley and Bolt hold their nerve to secure National Open Pairs title

There was more success for the region at the Indoor National Championships as the Vipers pair of Paul Hartley and David Bolt landed the Open Pairs title.

- by Sport Reporter

In the last 16, Bolt eased past Falaise's Stuart Holland with a straight sets 10-2, 15-4 win. Another comfortable win over MidGlos Lee Williamson 12-5, 9-5 set up a semi-final against Oyster's Charles Bruder.

The Shields duo produced another good performance to get over the line 10-3, 8-7 and set up a final clash with Dorchester's Martin Puckett.

Bolt looked set to take the first set leading 6-1, however, the set slipped away 8-7. That was the first set the Vipers had dropped in the eight games to get to the final.

The early stages of the second set saw Bolt lead 5-2 after five of the nine end set, however, just like the first set, Puckett turned things around to lead 6-5 going into the final end.

With Bolt needing a double to force a tie-break, they held two shots and when Puckett's final bowl failed to change the head, the final went to a one-end shootout.

Hartley won the toss and elected to have last bowl. With Puckett holding shot, Bolt's second bowl looked to be hanging past, but dipped to clip in Hartley's bowl for shot. As Puckett's final bowl hung off, the Shields lads celebrated another national title.

In the DBE Singles, Stanley's Steve Angus did well to reach the final, however in the final, the lad never got to grips with the rink and were beaten 21-4 by John Greaves.