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Commonwealth Games 2022: Whitstable’s Sian Honnor claims gold in the women's triples bowls final alongside England teammates Natalie Chestney and Jamie-Lea Winch
20:17, 05 August 2022
updated: 20:18, 05 August 2022
Best pals Natalie Chestney, Sian Honnor and Jamie-Lea Winch are England's latest golden girls after claiming the Commonwealth Games women's triples bowls title.
They held their nerve in a tetchy final encounter against Malaysia to secure England's second gold at Leamington Spa, following a win for their men's triples team.
Whitstable's Honnor, 34, also has a triples gold from Glasgow eight years ago - and two bronzes but Winch, 31, has a silver and bronze, meaning she finally complete her set.
For Chestney, 33, it is a second Commonwealth gold, she also has two silvers, but a first since her victory in the singles in 2010.
"That game was a hard slog, the bowls were pinging all over the place and I kept catching edges, it was close but no cigar far too often," said Honnor.
"It would have been easy to get frustrated but we just stayed with our plan and kept talking.
"It doesn't always have to be pretty, we just threw ourselves over the line. We changed our tactics, won five consecutive ends, and that finished them off.
"Winning this gold means pretty much everything, all the hours of work and sacrifice - it's for moments like this."
Chestney was left downbeat four years ago on the Gold Coast after failing to progress out the group stages of the fours and losing in the quarter-finals of the pairs.
And she admitted the emotion of the moment was heightened by her daughter watching in the crowd.
"I only noticed her after 14 ends and I thought I was going to start crying," she said.
"Having our families here has just made it even more special. This just means more winning at home. We've played games all around the world with a few token family members but having the whole crowd with you, just makes such a huge difference.
“You can feel how much they want it for you."
England took the lead early on but were soon pegged back and needed to win five ends on the spin to secure a 17-9 win as the evening shadows fell over Victoria Park.
While both her team-mates had won Commonwealth Games golds, this was a first for Winch - made more special by sharing the moment with her close friends.
"We're playing for a country but we are also really playing for each other," she said.
"We've been together on this team since Delhi and we've come such a long way and to cap that journey off with a gold medal is fantastic.
"I've already got a silver and a bronze so this was the one that I really wanted and I couldn't ask for any more.
"This has been the moment I've been dreaming of, I always believed it would happen at some point and we've finally got over the line."
There has never been a better time to discover bowls, truly a sport for everybody. It is all to play for – discover more at www.bowlsengland.com
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