31st January 2010
Howard Harding

Australian qualifier Gerard Beath brought to an end the reign of Robert Chisholm as champion of the Gravells Welsh International Open when he beat the 24-year-old Englishman in the first round of the final ranking event of the World Bowls Tour season at the City and County of Swansea Indoor Bowls Club in Swansea.

Chisholm took the World Bowls Tour by storm 12 months ago when he became the first qualifier in the history of the event to win the title.  The young man from Newcastle-upon-Tyne went on to leap almost 100 places in the WBT world rankings to reach No19, and was hailed as Young Player of the Year award at the recent World Bowls Tour Awards in Norfolk.

But Chisholm was unable to contain Beath, a 33-year-old from New South Wales who was making his second appearance in the event after earning a quarter-final berth in his first time two years ago.

Chisholm scored a full house four shots in the fifth end of the first set to take a brief lead - but thereafter Beath was in command before securing his 10-5, 7-7 upset over the top seed.

Second seed Alex Marshall also had a scare before claiming his place in the last 16 in Swansea.  The world number one and record five-time world champion from Scotland was six shots behind in the first set before opening his account against Irish qualifier David Corkill, the respected BBC TV commentator making his first appearance in the event since reaching the quarter-finals in 2000.

Corkill led throughout the first set - while Marshall was ahead during the whole of the second.  The Scot then pressed home his advantage in the first two tie-break ends to win 4-9, 8-6, 2-0.

The only other upset on the opening day of action in Swansea came when unseeded Irishman Jonathan Ross beat England's eighth seed Andy Thomson 7-5, 6-9, 2-0.