Bowls: Royal scrapes into last eight

Stowmarket's Mark Royal squeezed into the quarter-finals of the Welsh Bowls Grand Prix this evening with a 6-6, 8-7, victory over New Zealand qualifier Peter Wilson.
The World No 3 shared the first set in Swansea. He trailed for much of it but scored two on the final end to grab a 6-6 share of the point. He opened an early 3-0 lead in the second, stretching it to an 8-3 advantage but then had to hang on as the underdog mounted a late comeback before falling just short of forcing a third-leg shoot-out decider.
Royal now meets Scotland-based Irish international Jonathan Ross in tomorrow's quarter-finals. The winner will play Darren Burnett, of Scotland, or England's Simon Skelton in the semi-final.

• Read the New Zealand angle on the match in the Otago Daily Times, here.
• And how the Bury Free Press reported it, with comments from Royal, here.
• Follow the action live on the World Bowls Tour website, here.