THE 36th York Open Bowls Tournament was officially opened by the Lord Mayor, Coun Charles Hall, in Clarence Gardens.

The tournament got underway in ideal conditions with the mixed pairs being held at three venues - West Bank Park, Glen Gardens and Clarence Gardens.

There were a number of close games in the early rounds of the mixed pairs, the pick of which were the husband-and-wife partnership of Jean and John Bartnett who had a one-shot victory over Pat Walker and Ralph Tiplady.

Last year's beaten semi-finalists, Betty Richardson and Ian Hodge, were pushed all the way by Ella Armitt and R Spencer before winning 17-14. Another close encounter saw Don and Margaret Moss edge home 19-18 against Harrogate pair John and Maureen Stakes.

A classic encounter between Maureen-Barry Walker and husband-and-wife pairing Barbara and Brian Sprigg went down to the last end with the Walkers winning 14-12.

Another exciting finish was the game between John Sykes and Dot Turpin, who managed to win by the odd shot against Nova and Arthur Jardine 17-16.

Lynne Tattersall and Eddie Howcroft progressed through to the third round with a good win at the expense of Audrey Swann and John Burgher (South Shields).

The second round saw the end of 2001 champions Anne Illingworth and Gary Bunce, who lost 16-13 to last year's runners-up Pat Wilson and Frank Turner, who then went on to lose on an extra end to Pauline Veitch and Tim Winter (Hull) 18-17.

The competition continues on Wednesday playing down to the semi-finalists.

Updated: 11:08 Tuesday, July 29, 2003