ROYSTON S Matt Coppen relinquished his Under-25 Singles English Championship title on Saturday despite a hard fought effort. The talented bowls starlet was looking to secure back-to-back national titles after winning the competition last year. However, f

ROYSTON'S Matt Coppen relinquished his Under-25 Singles English Championship title on Saturday despite a hard fought effort.

The talented bowls starlet was looking to secure back-to-back national titles after winning the competition last year. However, featuring the cream of the country's under-25 regional champions, the competition proved tough for the 16-year-old.

He got off to a good start, with an opening match 21-19 win over James Price of Huntingdon before overcoming his Cumbria opponent 21-17 in the second round.

But in a close quarter final encounter, Coppen came unstuck against Martin Spencer of Lincolnshire 21-20.

He said: "I'm obviously disappointed but I played as well as I could - it's just the way it goes. It was a close game and it could have gone either way, he was a very good player.

"With so many decent players involved, it's a hard competition to win. I'm still pleased I won it last year!"

He added: "I've got plenty of time to win it again and I'm confident I can."

Coppen had qualified for the English Championships, which were held in Worthing, after he won the County Under-25 Singles title last month.

The youngster will look to bounce back with a win in the Eastern Counties Under-25 Championship which takes place in Felixstowe in three weeks time.

Coppen is to have an England indoor trial at Oxford in October.

Royston Bowls Club are through to the semi final of the McMullen Trophy after a convincing display saw off quarter final opponents Roebuck.

Royston's players had travelled to the neutral venue of Holwell BC believing it would be one of their toughest games of the season.

However, it was Royston's bowlers who were the most confident and pulled away on all three rinks. And such was their dominance, at the 16th end Roebuck decided to end proceedings as they trailed by 35 points.

The win puts Royston through to the semi final which will take place on Sunday at Townsend BC in St Albans.

The ladies team also won in midweek, with their triples team overcoming St Ippolyts in the North Herts League. Beryl Huckle, Pam Keating and Eunice Dockree won 22-10 on rink one, while Joan Knights, Eileen Hyde and Shirley Pawson were unfortunate to lose by one point going down 19-18. However, the result was already in the bag with Royston going home 40-29 winners.

n BASSINGBOURN Bowls Club held its Annual Club Tournament on Saturday with 30 members entering the popular competition.

The tournament was made up of five groups with the two teams with most wins going through to a final.

The winnners were Don Laing, Don Slater and Ivan Hubbard and with Dave Lester, Diane Stewart and Bradley Flanagan finishing as runners-up.

On Monday Bassingbourn played in the C&D league at home to Balsham and came away with a 6-1 win.

Bill Manley skipped on rink one with Don Laing and Don Slater all playing a solid game and coming away with a 15 - 7 win, while on rink two Dave Lester, John Kimber and Maureen Hammond came from behind to win 14-9.

On rink three another Bassingbourn win was secured with Anne Brown, Sid Manning and Ken Clark with a 13-7 victory. Then on rink four debutant Brian Hunt, alongside Andy Brown and Graham Parrish registered another win and saw off their opponents with a comfortable 20-12 victory.

Cambridge & District League

Division One

Melbourn 43 (1pt) Coton 60 (6pts)

(Melbourn names first) Rink One: D Clark, K Howard, G Bridger 9; B Lloyd, D Teevan, R Brown 20. Rink Two: Y Blows, M Kernaghan, M Rogers 9; C Wisbey, I Clarke, A Thomson 14. Rink Three: S Sell, M Davey, R Sell 10; A Darling, S Millward, A Peppercorn 12. Rink Four: Betty King, C Blows, J Gillings 15; K Sparkes, C Hacker, S Marsh 14.

Melbourn 81 (7pts) Coton 34 (0pts)

(Melbourn names first) Rink One: D Bridger, A Howard, J Gillings 15; B Tennant, E Free, A Thompson 9. Rink Two: S Sell, K Howard, R Sell 23; B Lloyd, D Teevan, R Brown 112. Rink Three: Bob King, C Blows, G Bridger 22; K Sparkes, G Hacker, S Marsh 4. Rink Four: Y Blows, J Dodds, M Cooper 21; B Free, J Lewis, G Kinsey 9.

Division Five

Melbourn 62 (6pts) Longstanton A 45 (1pt)

(Melbourn names first) Rink One: L Morgan, F Tyrell, E Brown 17; M Edwards, K Moffatt, F Randall 18. Rink Two: J Howell, T Mitchell, P Ferris 11; D Evans, J Evans, R Higgins 10. Rink Three: E Cooke, A Brown, E Goddard 15; H Garner, C Welford, J Spezzini 7. Rink Four: D Tyrell, V Musson, R Morgan 19; C Griffiths, J Walker, J Hodson 10.

Foxton League

Melbourn 49 (3pts) Gt Shelford 47 (2pts)

(Melbourn names first) Rink One: J Baldwin, D Tyrell, M Baldwin 15; Alec, Audrey, David 18. Rink Two: V Musson, F Tyrell, C Blows 14; Ron, Roger, Barry 17. Rink Three: S Earls, Y Blows, D Wooding 20; Christine, Peter, Roger 12.