NZ lawn bowler Jo Edwards wins gold

2:02 am on 9 April 2018

The New Zealand Lawn bowler Jo Edwards has defended her Commonwealth Games gold medal on the Gold Coast.

Jo Edwards during the World Bowls Championships, Christchurch, 2016

Jo Edwards during the World Bowls Championships, Christchurch, 2016 Photo: PHOTOSPORT

She beat Welsh star Laura Daniels 21-17 after making a late comeback to win the gold medal.

Edwards was behind Daniels for a long time and was having a lot of trouble with her opening bowls.

But the experience of the 47-year-old, who's at her fourth Commonwealth Games, meant she clawed her way back in the last six ends.

"I hung tough, I was really proud of my patience and I was quite calm, I didn't get too flustered. I was getting frustrated with just short bowls, my first short bowl going back towards the clubhouse constantly but I was lucky enough to do it with one of the other ones."

She was soon in kicking distance of winning and decided to go for the drive, which effectively knocked Daniels out.

Edwards says it was a bit risky but it was worth it.

"I felt confident of hitting it and I thought if I get it, it puts a huge amount of pressure on Laura and no one likes being game down, and having to draw a shot, so lucky it came off for me tonight."

The relief was palpable as Edwards raised her hands to her head when she knew she'd won the gold.

Earlier, the Glasgow gold medallist defeated Colleen Piketh of South Africa 21-17 in the semi-finals in another epic encounter.

Edwards was also a gold medallist in the pairs at Manchester in 2002.

There's no rest for Edwards, who starts her women's pairs event this morning.