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Nanaimo man vying for Blind World Lawn Bowling Championship in South Africa

Mar 23, 2017 | 10:21 AM

SOUTH AFRICA — Gus Thorne and his director Donn Sherry are representing Canada at the 2017 Blind Bowlers World Bowls Championships.

Thorne won the national championship last August in Delta to qualify for the worlds.

Since then he and Sherry have spent much of their time fundraising and practicing.

Sherry acts essentially as Thorne’s eyes during lawn bowling matches.

The Nanaimo duo left for the tournament in South Africa on March 15 and as of Thursday morning Thorne had a 1-3 record in singles competition and one win in mixed doubles.

On Wednesday he recorded his first ever international win with a 21-13 victory over England.  

Thorne has only been lawn bowling for three years, and the 35-year-old took up the sport after recovering from a near fatal motorcycle accident in 2010.

His rise to the top of the sport has been impressive considering most of his opponents have much more experience.

There’s a lot of local support for Thorne and Sherry, especially from the Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club.

Club spokesperson Joyce Mitchell said the club is very pleased to see two of their own doing so well.

She noted there is virtually no prize money for any of these lawn bowling competitions.   

“There’s a sense of achievement and an ability to find something that you can excel at. In the case of Gus and in the case of previous winners that we’ve had, it has been a life changing event for them,” Mitchell said. 

The next singles match for Thorne is Friday against Israel with round robin competition continuing through Tuesday.

In Thorne’s B1 singles division the other countries involved are Australia, England, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Scotland and South Africa. 

Getting information from the tournament has definitely been a challenge with no live scoring or official website updates.

Sherry has been sending periodic updates that have been shared by the Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club online and Thorne’s family has provided results via email as well.