Rigney on a roll

SOPHIE RIGNEY

OLDHAM has always enjoyed its fair share of sporting achievers, but women's bowls has long remained an area of untapped potential at national level.

All that could be about to change. In 23-year-old Sophie Rigney, the town has a superb young bowler who could make it to the very top.

The 2016 season proved to be Failsworth-based Sophie's breakthrough campaign. She reached the last 16 of the prestigious Women's Waterloo Handicap in Blackpool - a competition which features the cream of the country's female players - but it was her success in the Oldham Chronicle-organised Green Final Handicap which proved she had arrived in the big time.

"To win that was brilliant," said Sophie, who is studying for a podiatry degree at Salford University.

"I know I was up against the men, but I just played my own game and I thought after I had qualified for the finals at Shaw Comrades (where she beat Alan Bidwell, Frank Cassidy and Bob Barber) that I had a chance if I could play like that again."

And so to Moorside Cricket Club, which hosted the finals.

"I'd hardly ever played there before so I didn't know much about the green, but I seemed to hit it straight away," she said.

Sophie certainly knew she was in for a battle against quarter-final opponent Matt Gillies, whose superb early-season victory in the Meole Brace Open at Shrewsbury earned him a place in the select field of 32 for the Champion of Champions' event at the Waterloo.

"I managed to get a good lead on a short mark," said Sophie. "And even when Matt got hold of the block and went long into the corners I was able to match him.

"That stood me in good stead and Matt was so nice when I won, giving me a hug and wishing me well."

Self-confidence has never been a problem for Sophie, who went on to the lift the Green Final trophy with a semi-final defeat of Keith Gledhill and a landslide 21-7 verdict against Greater Manchester regular John Ashton in the final.

'CHANCE'

"I knew I had a chance on the night, but I didn't back myself. My friend, Paul, did though and he won £500! And I know quite a lot of the women bowlers who came to support me had a pound or two on at 25s."

Sophie's next target was the Waterloo in which she came up short in the last 16.

"I didn't play anywhere near as well as I did in the Green Final," she admitted. "It's a nice, big green which should suit me, but I didn't perform how I can."

Defeat in Blackpool was just a blip, insists Sophie.

"I am very ambitious and my aim is to win the Women's Waterloo by the time I am 25. I watched Greg Smith (Birmingham) win the men's Waterloo at a young age in 2015 and he is a real inspiration to me.

"I think my game has developed in the last couple of years. I feel I am a thinking bowler who can play long and short marks. My striking is good, now, too, which has come with practice.

"I would like to be a bit of a trailblazer for the women's game in this area.

'MIXED'

"There is a real lack of ambition among local players to play against the best and I am not just talking about playing the top women bowlers.

"There are a lot of mixed competitions and I enter those, too. You have to test yourself against the best in order to improve."