Natasha Jones picks up two golds at national lawn bowls comp
NATASHA Jones has become the first woman to pick up dual gold medals at the national under-18 lawn bowls championship since Kelsey Cottrell in 2006.
Cottrell has gone on to represent her country more than 160 times and Jones wants to follow closely in her footsteps.
The 17-year-old Bribie Island bowler travelled to Tasmania earlier this month to captain Queensland at the championships and came away with gold in the singles and pairs events.
She was forced to stage big comebacks in both finals matches, making the victories all the sweeter.
All looked lost in the singles when Jones was down 17-7 but she refused to give up and fought back to take the match 21-20.
The pairs were a similar story, as Jones and her partner turned a 17-11 deficit into a 19-18 win.
Jones said she never lost hope during the tough matches, no matter how hard things got.
"I thought we always had a chance," she said. "The pairs I thought we were more out of it.
Jones made the Australian junior squad following the championships.
Her next step is being selected in the team in January and hopefully taking on the Kiwis in March.
After that she wants to represent the national senior team and make a career out of the sport.
"I've worked so hard to prove that I can actually be a singles player," she said. "To win boosted my confidence."
She said the victories were inspired by her family.
"I basically did it for my grandma and grandad, because they were the ones that started me up," she said.
"To win in front of my grandma was just awesome.
"She was crying. She was so proud."
