England’s Donna Knight won her final two qualifying-round matches today to top the women’s Section One standings at the World Bowls Singles Champion of Champions in Sydney ©World Bowls

England’s Donna Knight won her final two qualifying-round matches today to top the women’s Section One standings at the World Bowls Singles Champion of Champions in Sydney.

Knight finished with a total of 24 points and 53 shots after beating Botswana’s Tirelo Buckley 10-3, 8-10, 4-1 and Scotland’s Donna Fleming 10-3, 12-2 at the Australian city's St Johns Park Bowling Club.

She will face either home favourite Carla Krizanic or Malaysia’s Emma Firyana Saroji in tomorrow’s semi-finals after they secured their place in the elimination round.

Krizanic finished third in Section One with 24 points and 83 shots, while Saroji came second in Section Two with 24 points and 82 shots.

New Zealand’s Selina Goddard was the winner of Section Two with 27 points and 75 shots.

She ensured first place thanks to wins today over Norfolk Island’s Petal Jones - 14-4, 8-6 - and Wales’ Laura Daniels - 8-7, 9-7.

Daniels, the third-place finisher in Section Two with 24 points and 66 shots, will face South Africa’s Nici Neal, the runner-up in Section One with 24 points and 30 shots, in the elimination round.

The winner will meet Goddard in the other semi-final.

The men's elimination and semi-finals schedule has been decided ©World Bowls
The men's elimination and semi-finals schedule has been decided ©World Bowls

In the men’s competition, Wales’ David Kingdon and Scotland’s Derek Oliver sealed first place in Sections One and Two respectively.

Kingdon finished on 30 points and 94 shots having followed up an 8-8, 5-9 defeat to New Zealand’s Dean Elgar by overcoming Malaysia’s Izzat Dzulkeple - 10-4, 15-1 - and Singapore’s Tomas Leong - 9-8, 12-7.

Oliver, meanwhile, amassed an unrivalled 33 points and 105 shots.

He opened today by beating the United States’ Scott Roberts 7-6, 15-5 before defeating Niue’s Dalton Tagelagi 17-6, 16-3 and then losing 4-7, 19-1, 1-2 to Turkey’s Ozkan Akar.

Oliver will go up against either New Zealand’s Dean Elgar, the third-place finisher in Section One with 24 points and 37 shots, or Ireland’s Barry Kane, the third-place finisher in Section Two with 27 points and 64 shots, in the semi-finals.

Kingdon’s opponent in the penultimate round will be either Fiji’s Arun Kumar, second in Section One with 27 points and 35 shots, or Australia’s Aaron Teys, the runner-up in Section Two with 30 points and 85 shots.

The finals are scheduled to be held on Sunday (November 5).

Australia's Scott Thulborn and Natasha Scott were the winners of last year's respective men's and women's events in Brisbane.