Bowls: England run at an end

England's eight-match winning run in the World Triples Championship was ended by Hong Kong who brought off a surprise 20-10 victory in the 11th round in Worthing yesterday.

The English trio of Roy Cutts, Andy Thomson and John Bell managed to close the gap to four shots with five ends to play, but Hong Kong pulled away again after Mark McMahon, Noel Kennedy and George Souza had virtually settled the issue by establishing a 13-2 lead in the opening nine ends.

South Africa, the section leaders, who demolished Swaziland

43-3, are now firm favourites to win the gold medal.

A second successive day of heavy rain, which flooded the greens, finally forced the suspension of play with five pairs and five triples matches still to be completed.

However, the downpour failed to save John Ottaway and Tony Allcock in the pairs. They lost

21-16 to the Irish pair, Stevie Adamson and Sammy Allen, severely denting their chances of reaching Saturday's final.

Israel, the leaders in the triples section, lost for the first time in the tournament - 19-16 to Papua New Guinea, but the Scottish pair, Richard Corsie and Alex Marshall, carry a 22-10 lead going into the final two ends of their match with Botswana.