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Gary Lawson - Source: Photosport
Double world champion Gary Lawson hotly denies accusations his fours team deliberately lost a match at the Asia-Pacific bowls championships.
The Canterbury bowler told media on Friday that he and teammates Jamie Hill, Shayne Sincock and Shannon McIlroy will defend themselves on charges lodged by Canada and World Bowls.
Bowls New Zealand (BNZ) stood the four down while investigating the accusations which were levelled against the New Zealanders when they lost a section match 15-17 to Thailand in Malaysia last month.
That investigation found there is a case to be heard and BNZ has now established a judicial committee which chief executive Kerry Clark hopes will resolve the matter by the end of October at the latest.
Lawson, 43, who has represented his country since 1989 and last year won the pairs and fours titles at the world championships in Christchurch, said the accusations were a nonsense.
The New Zealand combination, who had already qualified for post section play in Kuala Lumpur, led Thailand 15-12 before conceding a four on the penultimate end and another shot on the last to lose the match, their last in section play.
Lawson said the New Zealanders held three shots on the last end before the Thai No 3 "got a fluke", deflecting his delivery off a wide bowl to end up behind the jack.
"I couldn't see it. We tried to get rid of it. We tried to win the game."
Canada and World Bowls believe Lawson's team manipulated the result to give them a more favourable post section draw, but they met and lost to Australia in the quarterfinals after the Australians surprisingly dropped their last section game to Fiji.
"There were a lot of close games, and as it turned out it made no difference to whether we won or lost (against Thailand)," Lawson said.
He is upset that he and his teammates have effectively been put in a position where they now have to prove their innocence.
"We have been found guilty and now we have to prove our innocence. They bring in their hot shot lawyers. What do we do? Hire a QC? It's just bullshit."
Lawson said he would front the judicial committee "and deny everything".
He said the BNZ report on the incident, partially written by New Zealand coach Dave Edwards who was in Kuala Lumpur, was littered with mistakes.
"At the end of the day, when the facts are all wrong and the report contains so many mistakes, how can anyone be charged?
"The other guys think the same, they are staunch in saying they do not agree with what is in the report. None of them have backed off at all."
Clark said BNZ was duty bound to investigate the allegations once they were raised by Canada and World Bowls.
"We will leave it to the judicial tribunal to make a decision, we cannot influence that."
Clark said the judicial committee would comprise a District Court judge plus two other legally qualified people although at this stage he was not prepared to identify them.
He said it was difficult to give a time table for the judicial process.
"It could be anything from two weeks through to the end of October. It depends on the availability of witnesses and the availability to the tribunal members themselves."
