Benalla’s teenage bowls sensation Koby Cromie just can’t stop winning.
After picking up several titles at the Victorian under-18s lawn bowl championship in Sunbury in April, he headed to the Under-18 Australian Open on the Gold Coast in June.
While Koby was too busy at school this week to chat to the Ensign, his dad Tim was on hand to share some good news — he won.
“The Australian Open is held up in Queensland every year,” Tim said.
“He played in the under-18 section. Anyone from Australia or New Zealand is able to enter.
“It was a tough competition. You start off playing sectional rounds, and you have to win to get to the knockout rounds.
“In the sectional round, he was up against the winner of the Queensland under-18s singles.”
That match-up could be a final itself. However after moving into the knockout stage he still had some pretty big hurdles to jump.
“He was up against opponents from Tasmania (Oliver Morrison) in the quarter-final and NSW (Thomas Rich) in the semi-final.
“He did really well to make the final,” Tim said.
The competition is held from Wednesday to Friday, so Koby had some time to let the nerves build up in between games.
But that was not enough to stop him and Tim said the whole family was celebrating when Koby defeated Travis Moran, from Warilla, NSW, in the final 21-19.
“He was hopeful going into the final,” Tim said.
“I guess he was quietly confident, but also wary of his opponent. He knew Travis was a strong player.
“He didn’t start off fantastically. They were neck and neck for most of the game.
“Then Travis pulled away, but Koby regathered his thoughts and came back to win.”
Tim said Koby was already back competing at state level, with a tri-state series featuring NSW and Queensland this month.