GWENT Short Mat Bowls Association have held their Red Card Championships in Llangynidr Village Hall over the last two weekends to select those members of the Gwent Association to represent the region in the Welsh Short Mat Bowls Championships.

Entries were received from Brynithel, Llangat-tock, Roseheyworth, Pontnewynyd, Goytre, Llangynidr and Trevethin with the first three teams in each discipline represent the county at the four disciplines of singles, pairs, triples and fours.

In the Fours competition, nine teams took part with each team having at least two games - the eventual winners were Bill Bacon, Steve Langley, Gwyneth Poulton and Glenys Bacon of Llangynidr; with Langattock's Gay Best, Dave Smith, Lynne Vaughan and Dianne Smith placing second. Third place was Pontnewynyd, represented by Dave Gibbons, Larry Bruton, Albert Gibbons and Dianne Gibbons.

21 players contested the singles, with the winner being Chris Martin from Trevethin and Dave Gibbons of Pontnewynyd second. Mary Bennett of Brynithel was third with Glyn Jones, of Llangynidr, fourth.

The triples had 12 entries and saw the Llangynidr team of Bill Bacon, Steve Langley and Gwyneth Poulton come out as winners; with Nick Paul, Phil Annett and Mark Annett of Roseheyworth second. Pontnewynyd's Dave Gibbons, Larry Bruton and Dianne Gibbons were in third place and Brian Clark, Derek Howells and Graham Stone, from Trevethin, were fourth.

Finally, in the pairs Steve Langley and Gwyneth Poulton were victorious ahead of Glyn Jones and Marilyn Thomas - both teams representing Llangynidr. Dave Gibbons and Albert Gibbons from Pontnewynyd were third while Don and Val Taylor from Llangattock placed fourth.

The next event for the Gwent Short Mat Bowlers will be the first round of the National County Championships, against Monmouthshire and Pembrokeshire, which will be held early in the New Year. The team will be selected from the players who took part in the Red Card Championships.