Dan Salmon Following The Stream Back To Gold Coast Glory For Wales

Dan Salmon already has golden memories of the Gold Coast after winning the World Youth Championships at Broadreach Bowls Club last year.

Now, the 23-year-old painter and decorator from Cardiff wants to add to his title success down under by adding a Commonwealth Games gong to his mounting collection when he competes in the Singles and pairs next month.

Groomed for stardom from the age of 15, when he became the youngest player to represent Wales indoors, he also picked up a silver medal at the open Pairs competition at the World Indoor Bowls Championship with Damian Doubler last year.

The fact his biggest win to date came on the same greens on which the battle for medals will be fought at the Gold Coast Games is bound to fill Salmon, who started playing at Whitchurch Bowls Club at the age of 10, with confidence.

A string of domestic titles have fallen to him in recent years and he only lost out with Doubler on the World Indoor Pairs crown to the last bowl of the match. So, can he reach the podium once again?

“I’ve been to Broadbeach twice now, so I know what conditions to expect. I will use different woods to what I use back home because the greens are fast,” said Salmon, who beat Aussie rival Corey Wedlock to win the World Junior title.

Salmon will team up with Marc Wyatt in the Pairs event. It will be Wyatt’s third successive Commonwealth Games and he was a bronze medalist in the Triples in Glasgow in 2014.

The Men’s Fours have a strong look about them with two bronze medallists from Glasgow four years ago, Jon Tomlinson and Wyatt, and a recent World Junior Championship finalist, Ross Owen. Steve Harris completes the quartet, while Owen, Harris and Tomlinson will team up in the Triples.

The Fours line up in Section A alongside New Zealand, Canada, Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands and will be hoping to match the golden achievements of Hafod Thomas, Jim Morgan, Robert Weale and Will Thomas who won the title in Edinburgh 32 years ago.

WELSH MEN’S BOWLS TEAM FOR COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Singles: Daniel Salmon
Pairs: Daniel Salmon & Marc Wyatt
Triples: Ross Owen, Steve Harris & Jon Tomlinson
Fours: Ross Owen, Steve Harris, Marc Wyatt & Jon Tomlinson.
Team Manager: David Harding

WELSH MEN’S MEDALIST AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Men’s Singles
1978       John Evans          Bronze
1998       John Price           Silver
2006       Rob Weale          Silver
2010       Rob Weale          Gold

Men’s Pairs
1934       Thomas Davies & Stan Weaver  Bronze
1978       Jim Morgan & Ray Williams          Bronze
1982       Lyn Perkins & Spencer Wilshire  Silver
1994       John Price & Rob Weale                                Silver
1998       Rob Weale & Rob Thomas            Silver

Men’s Triples
2014       Paul Taylor, Jon Tomlinson & Marc Wyatt              Bronze

Men’s Fours
1978       Ellis Stanbury, Gwyn Evans, Ian Sutherland & John Thomson       Bronze
1986       Hafod Thomas, Jim Morgan, Robert Weale & Will Thomas             Gold
1998       Dai Wilkins, Ian Slade, Mark Anstey & Neil Rees                                 Bronze
2002       Dai Wilkins, Ian Slade, Jason Greenslade & Richard Bowen            Bronze