By Simone Ballett

THERE was another strong display for the South Wales Bowls and Recreation Centre Pétanque Section (SWBRC-PS) at the Pontyclun Open Triples.

The players from the Sully club returned to Pontyclun, where earlier in the season they had already achieved first and and second places for the annual Open Triples.

Ian Bailey (SWBRC-PS), Nai Kongchung and Sean Smith (Monkstone-PC), playing together as a team for the first time as an experiment, finished second after the morning rounds.

The other SWBRC-PS team composed of Julie Bailey, Jean-Yves Robic and Len Field had a more difficult morning finishing in fifth place.

In the afternoon’s knock-out rounds, both teams easily made it past the quarter-finals to set up semi-finals against a Caerleon PC team for Ian, Nai and Sean and against the last Pontyclun team for Julie, Len and Jean-Yves.

Ian's team registered a clear 13 -5 win against the Caerleon trio while Julies team had to battle hard against the local team but finally came top with a narrow 13-12 win to set up a nearly all SWBRC-PS final.

After an evenly matched start, Ian's team, helped by precise and consistent shooting by Nai Kongchung, pulled away and convincingly beat their opponents 13-5 to take another Open title.

This was the fifth final victory in six open events this season confirming the domination of the South Wales Bowls and Recreation Centre Pétanque Section in the 2021 open season.

The next important date for the Sully players will be the Welsh Pétanque Association Men's National Doubles on the 1st of August at Brecon PC, where Ian Bailey and Jean-Yves Robic will try to retain their title.