Banking on fortune - bowls family making a stir
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THE Banks family, from the Garioch Indoor Bowling Club, have rolled into three semi-finals in Scottish Indoor Bowls national competitions.
Auchinleck on January 4, is the stadium for Carla and Jason in their respective Scottish Junior semi-finals, while Carla, with her mother Angela, feature in the Scottish Open semi-final in the Ladies Pairs.
Father Colin, while not yet featuring, has qualified for the BBC-televised World Indoor Championships at Potters Holiday resort on January 20.
He came through the six-round qualifier at Nottingham in October.
He has won Scottish titles and regularly featured in the top 10 ranked players over the last few years but is yet to earn an international cap.
Former Junior Scottish Ladies winner Carla now meets Abbeyview's internationalist Gemma Forrester for a place in the final against either Falkirk or Auchinleck.
Jason, a previous winner of the Scottish Junior and British Isles title, is in the semi-final again, after four ties at Dundee.
He has drawn a tough opponent in strong junior internationalist, Stephen Lowrie of Glasgow.
Waiting for the winner will either be Prestwick’s Darren Weir or Aberdeen’s namesake Keiran.
This week Jason should have been enjoying the heat of Hong Kong as the Scottish male representative in the Hong Kong Classic Bowls tournament.
It attracts players from all bowling nations, but because of the ongoing civil unrest the event was cancelled, denying Jason the chance of outstanding experience in the international field.
The last bowler from the north-east to represent Scotland in this contest was Garioch’s own Ian Beattie in the early 1980s.
