Read on for Police bowls maestro Nick Cuthbertson's wrap of the recent Supergames 2001, in New Zealand

As over 1,000 competitors gathered in Christchurch for the Supergames 2001 Opening Ceremony at the scenic North Hagley Park on March 30, the air around the Hong Kong Police crew was buzzing with anticipation. And rightly so, the team left New Zealand with some top prizes from the popular tournament.

The event is similar to the World Police and Fire Games, with over 40 different sports open to competition. The criterion for eligibility is being a member or a retired member of a disciplined organisation.

After the ceremony, competition knockout rounds followed for six days with the finals held on April 6, for most sports. Competitors battled for gold, silver and bronze medals, and the Force was represented by the 21-member Police Lawn Bowls crew, and the Police Angling 'team' consisting of Mike Howard. The Correctional Services Department also sent bowls and athletics teams.

The Police bowls squad competed in the Singles, Pairs and Rinks competitions, and retired Force stalwarts Stuart Kavanagh and Graeme Sutherland were drawn into the team, the former very active in HK bowls, the latter now a Christchurch resident. Meanwhile, Vincent Cheung, also retired and the HK Lawn Bowls Association Chairman, was tour organiser.

The Christchurch greens were very fast, running on average at 18 seconds, and took some getting used to. Principal competitors were New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and the Cooke Islands. Daphne Leung of the HK team put in a sterling performance to reach the Ladies Singles final and was just edged out at the end, taking the team's first silver.

In the rinks, the team of James Cheng, Mike Dowie, Luis Fernandez and K.K. Yeung reached the semi-finals and took bronze.

In an unusual turn of events, I, who had not figured in any last rounds, was asked by the New Zealand Prisons' Team to substitute for them in the finals of the pairs and rinks. One of their players had to play in a National 2-4-2 Heneselite Pairs Competition on the day of the Finals. This resulted in an automatic award of two silver medals! The winning pairs and rinks teams both came from New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the angling competition was an arduous one, beginning at 5 am and finishing as late as 7 pm daily for four days. Mike Howard took a silver medal on the first day of the boat fishing section, not a bad accomplishment as 26 of the species were caught on his boat alone. The second day of the boat fishing saw bigger catches, including sea perch, blue cod and shark. Mike took gold with the heaviest sea perch.

The third day involved the beachcasting section, a technically challenging form of angling, and here, Mike literally wiped the floor! Only one species was caught, dogfish, and Mike landed the most (17) to take gold for the heaviest catch and for the best bag of three fish.

The fourth day of fishing (beachcasting) was abandoned due to high on-shore winds. Mike's medal tally was three golds and a silver. A top triumph for the Force's leading competition sea angler who has now achieved medals in two world championships.

In all, the NZ trip saw many good contacts made and the organisers were very happy with the results. The next Supergames is now in planning and the organisers hope more teams from the HK disciplined services participate.

Mike Howard with the catch of the day

The Police bowls team on the green in NZ