The year 2003 was again an excellent one for Canada as two of our representatives were crowned World champions (as in 2001 and 2002 - see last year's report).
Kitchener's Drew Becker, became the first Canadian to win the Junior Boys division twice as he succesfully defended his title won in Red Deer 2002. This year, the group was tougher. After losing to Keith Boone (round 5), Drew received help from Canadian champion Buddy Dyrda. Buddy shot his high game of 83.7 to beat Boone (79.1) 42-28 in 86 shoes. Meanwhile, Drew (80.7) gave Nick Preston (78.4) his first loss 36-41 in 88 shoes. There was one more round to go. Drew (84.9) beat Buddy (80.2) 40-25 in 86 shoes, awaiting the outcome of the game Preston-Boone. Boone won 40-20 and a playoff had to be held to break the tie for first. Drew Becker (80.3) won 42-28 in 66 shoes over Keith Boone (71.2) to clinch the title.
In the Junior Girls division, Kelly Mallette gave it a last try. After losing her second game to Colette Cave, she saw Tava Cook beat the defending champion Shalee Sebastian 40-37 (round 3). Kelly played Tava the next round and a win would have put hewr in a three-way tie for first. Kelly lost 39-42 in 62 shoes, longest game of the division, and after her round-5 loss to Shalee ended in 4th place. Tava Cook had put an halt to Shalee's 4-year-reign.
Lucille Leis was among the top 4 ladies automatically seeded in the Senior Ladies Championship Division. After a slow start, (1 win and 4 losses), she finished strong on day 2, losing only to the dominant champion Rivers Prewette. Lucille finished runner-up for the second straight year.
This year we didn't have any Canadians in the Senior Men's and Elders' Championships. New champions were crowned in both divisions: Bob Hayes from New York, and Marvin Kramer from Illinois.
As mentioned earlier, top players according to NatStats were automatically seeded in their championship divisions. In the men's and women's, the top 16 were seeded, and the top 8 players from the preliminaries moved-up to form 24-player groups. Many newcomers to the World Tournament were seeded in the men's division. They all did very well. One of those was Adam Ellis, top Canadian according to CanStats. Our 20-year-old representative was to remain in a tie for first place, undefeated, up until round 18! Besides Alan Francis, who never lost any, Adam was the last man to lose a game. Adam finally took 4th place, losing only 4 games, the best finish for a Canadian since Elmer Hohl (Andre Leclerc was 4th in 1993, but not with as good a record). Alan Francis captured his 9th title! He did have to pitch a couple of 112-shoe games against Von Kleist and Walters (who scored the most points on Alan with 31). Alan was followed by 4 "rookies": Joe McCrink, smooth 1 and 3/4 turn pitcher, Shannon Foster, Adam Ellis and Mandell Proctor. Andre Leclerc, one of the 8 move-ups, finished 15th with 67.02%, while Stan Leis, one of 16 seeded, finished 22nd with 65.11%. Brian Simmons was unable to defend his title due to illness.
In the women's division, Sylvianne Moisan retained her title again, tying Ruth Hangen's record of 4 consecutive titles. This year, Sylvianne had to win the last game of the tournament against Amy Francis as both were tied with one loss. Sylvianne had bowed to Gert Wilcziek 18-42 (round 17). Amy Francis had a one-game lead going into the next-to-last round. There she was defeated by Joan Elmore (85.1) 23-40 in 74 shoes, setting up the final game with Sylvianne. That deciding game went 104 shoes, Sylvianne (84.6%) winning 40-24 against Amy (79.8%). Ontario's Sandy Janssens, who had won her 1987 World women's crown precisely in Eau Claire, finished 13th with 66.61%, and Angeline Moisan finished 15th with 68.68%. Longest game of the tournament was a 120-shoe tilt between Amy Francis (85.8%) and Sue Snyder (84.2) won by Amy 42-35 (round 9). The previous round, Sue Snyder (85.2) had caused Joan Elmore's first loss in 108 shoes by 42-31.
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