Winnipeg bowlers roll to international glory in Kuwait

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This article was published 17/10/2023 (1083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeggers Austyn Ducharme, Mitch Hupé and Marissa Naylor all returned from the World Tenpin Bowling Championships Monday carrying shiny evidence of their exploits.

It was the 25-year-old Ducharme, a first-time participant at the worlds, who came away with the biggest haul — claiming the gold medal in the all-events division while also leading Team Canada’s gold-medal-winning effort with countryman Hupé in the men’s team event that wrapped up in Salmiya, Kuwait on Sunday.

“I’m super over the moon about the first gold medal that Canada has ever won in team event — so that’s crazy to do it the first time,” said Ducharme Tuesday.

“I’m a rookie on the team, and first time at worlds I come home with a gold medal in the team. That’s kind of nuts. I looked at Mitch and Frankie (François Lavoie) after we were done being in shock and kind of hugging and a little bit of tears and said, ‘Does this happen every time?’ And they just looked at me and were like, ‘You’re an idiot.’”

The all-events, a combination of results from singles, doubles, trios and team competition, was a complete stunner.

“I fantasized about the team thing but didn’t even know there was an all-events (championship),” said Ducharme. “I didn’t know how it worked. I didn’t know about the all events until my mother told me about it Friday night.”

Ducharme said while Canadian team gold was monumental, earning the all-events gold was difficult to comprehend.

“I don’t even know where to begin to describe it,” he said. “I was overcome with emotion. I was in a little bit of shock and then it was relief. It was like, ‘How did this happen?’

“I think it alters my life plan a little bit. Before this, I wasn’t really sure where I might have stood in the worlds with all of these high-end bowlers.”

“I’m super over the moon about the first gold medal that Canada has ever won in team event — so that’s crazy to do it the first time.”–Austyn Ducharme

Hupé, who had previously earned a gold medal in the masters division and bronze in the team event at the 2018 world championships in Hong Kong, finished 16th in the all-events competition. He had a quiet confidence about his team prior to the worlds.

The Canadians eliminated China in the semfinals before dispatching South Korea in the final.

“I knew we had a team that was capable of doing that,” said Hupé.

“The format of the tournament itself made it a little more difficult, just because it was more focused on the head-to-head matches and loss ratios as opposed to total pinfall, which is what these events are normally built around. Whether or not you beat your opponent in one game by 100 or one, it didn’t matter. I feel like we have a more of a deep team where we could have excelled in a longer format that was based around pinfall and average game scores.”

Ducharme and Hupé were joined by Canadian teammates Nathan Ruest-Lajoie (seventh in the all-events division), Darren Alexander (10th), Jordan Jung (27th) and Lavoie (33rd).

“It feels great,” said Hupé. “In our regard, the team event is one of the most coveted medals to win because it takes five players being on the same page and performing, especially in this format where we’re all sharing one game. Not one player can hold the whole team up, so it just really proves that there’s depth to our team and we have some great players…

“It wasn’t too long ago that Canada was kind of a non-factor in these team events, especially because we didn’t have that depth.”

Women win bronze

Meanwhile, the 25-year-old Naylor made her worlds debut by teaming with Canada’s Samantha and Jennifer Besana to claim bronze in the women’s trios event.

She also completed the two-week competition by finishing 27th among 80 competitors in the women’s all-events category.

“There were a lot of rookies on the team so we just wanted to go and have a good performance, let alone come home or with a medal and so from the female side, it’s really, really big,” said Naylor. “Two Team Canada medals in trios hasn’t happened, ever.”

In addition, Canada’s other trios squad comprised of Jade Cote, Karine Bouchard and Brittney Turcotte claimed the silver, losing to South Korea in the final.

Hupé and Quebec City’s Lavoie will soon be on the road again, comprising the Canadian tenpin team that will compete at the upcoming Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca