DISABLED BOWLS player Stephen Hartley has triumphed in a national competition.

The visually-impaired player, from Tavistock, was paired with his Stockport team member Gareth Harwood, for the first time, to win the 2023 National VI Pairs in Nottingham.

They started in impressive fashion, winning their first game 24-0 and marched on ‘relentlessly’ securing their place in the final before playing their last game with a massive 65-shot difference over their opponents.

The final saw the Somerset pair Dave Wood and Phil Dutton on the wrong side of a 7-0 scoreline after three sessions and things only got worse for them as Gareth drove the jack into the boundary ditch to score five and then another five, to put the game out of Dave and Phil’s reach. The final score was 27-0 to Stephen and Gareth.

Stephen, who plays indoor bowls at Plymouth Life Centre, said: ‘It looks as if we ran away with the match and were very much better. But we were just playing very well at that time — it was a winning streak and doesn’t mean they were playing particularly badly.’

Stephen, who also plays outdoor bowls, for Drake Bowls Club in Tavistock, became almost blind after an eye infection at work and has just been picked for the national elite squad from which international squads will be selected. He is also aiming high with a future Olympic appearance beckoning as the Brisbane 2032 Olympics has chosen bowls as a guest sport.

This year he has been chosen for the Para Home Nations championships in Newport Wales on April 21-23 after trials. This follows his selection for the first time last year for the same contest for Disability Bowls England which takes on teams from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In October he is in the UK Visually Impaired Singles Championship.