2023 Tenpin Bowling Australia National Rankings Finalised

What a year it was for the pocket rocket from South Australia!

Never finishing lower than 5^th in four appearances, Emily collected a winning total of 295 rankings points. Winning the Queensland Junior Cup and a runner-up at the TBA18 Sunshine State Showdown, the South Australian did enough to edge Australian Junior team member Shanae Key, who shared an incredible year that involved competing at the Asian Junior Championships together in Singapore, where Emily won a silver medal in the girl’s singles event.

This marks the third consecutive year that Emily has secured a position among the top two bowlers in the rankings. She clinched victory in 2021 and was narrowly surpassed by Samantha Clifton in 2022. This year, Emily has reclaimed her top spot. What’s even more impressive? At just 17 years old, Emily still has one more year in the junior division. In 2024, she aims to defend her title fiercely, potentially securing an extraordinary third rankings title in the division.

What more can you say about the boy from Ballina that hasn’t already been said this year?

The young two-handed superstar continues to go from strength to strength in his pursuits on the lanes. He competed in three of four junior events for the year and only missed the Australian Junior Masters due to involvement in the Australian touring team in Thailand for the Asian Youth Championships (same as Emily Hart), where he won a silver medal in the boys’ master’s event.

Locally, Blake finished with two titles, the Sydney Junior Cup and the TBA18 Sunshine State Showdown, and finished runner-up at the Queensland Junior Cup.  Finished on the podium of 2 Open events, and a runner-up at the Grand National Youth Eliminator, Blake would finish on 360 points, edging fellow Australian team member Nicholas Rajkovic, who finished on 314 points.

When faced with adversity, what makes a sportsperson a champion? How you deal with it!

Tamika Pettigrew put together a class example of how to do just that this year. Dealing with the disappointment of non-selection in the Australian Youth team at the Asian Youth Championships, Tamika continued to control what she could with consistent performances in the ranked event season.

Starting the year off with an eleventh-placed finish at the Wyncity Youth Cup, Tamika was unstoppable after this moment. Winning the Sydney Youth Cup, TBA21 Sunshine State Showdown and Grand National Youth Eliminator, Tamika stormed to a convincing victory with 312 points.

A not-ideal start at the season opener of the Wyncity Youth Cup (15^th) snapped the Queenslander into gear for the remainder of the season. The two-handed bowler from Toowoomba quickly regained his status as one of the top youth bowlers in the country with consistent performances of back-to-back runners-up at Sydney Youth, and TBA21 Sunshine State Showdown before a third-place podium finish at the Grand National Youth Eliminator.

Finishing on a grand total of 242 points, Cameron adds yet another bow to a growing resume of achievements.

Young up-and-comer Justin Dinham continues to follow in big bro’s footsteps with another stellar year on the lanes. Finishing second over fellow junior Blake Walsh is not to be ignored.

In a year that followed the high of representing the country at a home-based World Cup and winning a bronze medal in the team’s event, you could excuse Adam Hayes for contemplating taking a step back in 2023. Yet, as he self-proclaimed earlier this year, “There’s still fight in this old dog yet”.

Now at 50 years old, the decorated Victorian withdrew from the National Training Squad to focus on other aspects of his life. With an ever-improving golf swing developing by the week, Hayes still found ways to enjoy the game he loves, bowling in both open and TBA50 events. The narrowed focus provided near-instant results.

Two main highlights? Sealing back-to-back wins in the Australian Tenpin Bowling Open and becoming the 12^th bowler to win multiple titles in the storied 47-year history of the event. The second one? Another one off the bucket list – Australian Masters champion.

Consistently a top 10 ranked bowler in at least the last decade, Hayes achieves another first of his career by being named champion of the open division TBA tournament season.

In a neck-to-neck race to the end, Bec Squared (Bec Whiting and Bek Martin) equalled Whiting with a narrow 8-point win.

A superb year kicked off for the Victorian with a dominant display at the Suncity Women’s Open, followed by yet another Vic 150 title over Easter – that’s now a total of five Vic 150 titles and edges her closer to the 7 title record held by TBA Hall of Famer Aann-Maree Putney.  A triplet of 5^th places at the Queensland Ladies Classic, Australian Masters and NSW Open cemented the narrow win against best friend Bek Martin.

A clearer Bec has seen a more successful Bec.

“The last couple of years, I have put unnecessary pressure on myself, so I am trying to do that less this year”, Bec explained after her fifth VIC150 title. “My goal for the rest of the year is just to continue having fun on the lanes and enjoy the sport”.

That she did, with a smile always beaming across her face no matter the result, Bec’s an incredible role model for aspiring bowlers.

A runner-up finish in season 2022, Dena returned this year to prove last was no fluke with an incredible display of bowling throughout the year.

Winning the first two events of the year at the Hammer and John Sullivan Senior AO, Dena continued her incredible play as the year went on, finishing runner-up in both the SA Seniors Classic and Brunswick Seniors Invitational. Topping off an incredible year, Dena captured the TBA50 National Cup at the AGL National High-Performance Centre while also cementing her top-ranking status.

A total of 280 points collected in 2023 ensured Dena Buxton would be named the top senior female bowler in the country.

The accomplished Victorian bowler, Mick Talevski has again topped the senior rankings.

Winning the SA Seniors Classic, Talevski also captured runner-up at the Hammer, and a 6^th at the John Sullivan Senior Australian Open.

Winning the senior rankings in 2016, Talevski returns to the top of the senior division. The NTS 50 bowler will be keen to keep the momentum rolling in 2024, with several new challengers entering the fold.

Can’t get better than this!

Heather Robertson scored a maximum of 300 points in season 2023 with an outstanding display, winning all events in the Grand Senior Division.

Bowling in all five possible events, Heather finished as the top-placed Grand Senior bowler in all events for the maximum point capture.

Similar to Heather, Jim Bakirtzidis had an incredible year on the lanes to take the Grand Senior Male title for 2023.

Bowling in three events – John Sullivan Senior AO, SA Seniors Classic, and Brunswick Senior Invitational, the proud New South Welshman finished on top of all events in the Grand Senior division to finish with a total of 300 maximum points.

Winner of the Grand Senior title in 2017, Bakirtzidis returns to the top after consistently being a podium threat.

What a few years it has been for Amanda Threlfall!

Crowned the Para Bowling World Cup Female Champion in the Intellectual Disability category, Amanda continues to go from strength to strength.

Kicking off the year with a win at the inaugural Suncity Inclusion Cup on the Sunshine Coast,  Amanda continued with strong performances at the National Disability Championships to capture the rankings title. Amanda sealed her victory with a fourth place in the Open All Events at the Championships and will continue to be a bowler to watch in 2024.

The Inaugural TBA Inclusion Division kicked off in 2023 with three events scheduled to be ranked – the Suncity Inclusion Cup and a doubleheader of events at the National Disability Championship, with the Open Masters and Open All-Events race being chosen for ranking points.

Victorian Pino Mascetti from Wyncity Keon Park would lead the way for the male competitors. Waiting until the 2023 National Disability Championship to make his mark, Pino would perform strongly in both to take the mantle as the first TBA Inclusion Division Rankings Champion.

A second place in the All-Events section behind Brian O’Leary, Pino backed the performance up with another silver in the Open Masters event behind Kallan Strong. The two runners-up finishes provided a total of 160 points, enough to take the inaugural crown in a narrow battle that saw the title decided by two points from Jason Threlfall, who finished runners-up with several competitors hot on their heels.