Date: May 11, 2007
Author: Alistair Hogg

Canada dashes Aussie hopes

By Alistair Hogg Australia has been beaten by Canada to end any remaining hope of bringing home a fourth successive Commonwealth Trophy. The foursomes were split in the morning but Canada ran away with the contest winning the first three singles matches in the afternoon to set up an unassailable lead. The Canadians have experiences an enormous turnaround in form after being trounced 7-0 by Great Britain on the opening day. Since that contest they have defeated New Zealand and Australia, both 4-3 to sit second on the table behind Britain. Victorian Emma Bennett was the standout performer for the Aussies winning her foursomes match with Stephanie Na and backing up to win her singles 5/3, although it ended up being a dead rubber. Australian Amateur Champion Sunny Park also managed to claim her first win in Australian colours as she defeated Meaghan Leblanc 3/2. However Na, Helen Oh and Frances Bondad were all beaten to condemn Australia to a narrow loss. In other results, New Zealand defeated hosts South Africa in a contest which followed the same blueprint of Canada&aposs triumph over Australia. After splitting the opening foursomes, the Kiwis raced away to win the opening three singles matches with Larissa Eruera, Yeong Song Kim and Tammy Clelland setting up the win up for the visitors. South Africa&aposs Kelli Shean and Ashleigh Simon restored some respect for the hosts with overwhelming wins over Da Som Lee and Penny Smith respectively. TABLE Great Britain 3 (17 1/2pts) Canada 2 (10 1/2pts) Australia 1 (11 1/2pts) South Africa 1 (9 pts) New Zealand 1 (7 1/2pts) DAY FOUR RESULTS Canada v Australia (4/3) Foursomes Maude Aimee Leblanc/Sue Kim (CAN) d. Frances Bondad/Helen Oh (AUS) 4/3 Emma Bennett/Stephanie Na (AUS) d. Mary Ann Lapointe/Meaghan Leblanc (CAN) 3/2 Singles Mary Ann Lapointe (CAN) d. Helen Oh (AUS) 2/1 Sue Kim (CAN) d. Stephanie Na (AUS) 1up Maude AimeeLeblanc (CAN) d. Frances Bondad (AUS) 4/2 Sunny Park (AUS) d. Meaghan Leblanc (CAN) 3/2 Emma Bennett (AUS) d. Lindsay Knowlton (CAN) 5/3 New Zealand v South Africa (4/3) Foursomes Kelli Shean/Bertine Strauss (SAF) d. Tammy Clelland/Penny Smith (NZL) 1up Da Som Lee/Yeon Song Kim (NZL) d. Gina Switala/Ashleigh Simon (SAF) 1up Singles Larissa Eruera (NZL) d. Bertine Strauss (SAF) 5/3 Yeong Song Kim (NZL) d. Gina Switala (SAF) 2/1 Tammy Clelland (NZL) d. Iliska Veret (SAF) 2/1 Kelli Shean (SAF) d. Da Som Lee (NZL) 6/4 Ashleigh Simon (SAF) d. Penny Smith (NZL) 6/5