Gary Kelly (born 10 May 1989) is an Australian based Northern Irish international indoor and lawn bowler. He reached a career high ranking of world number 4 in August 2024.

Bowls career

Outdoors

He won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the Men's singles at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

. In 2011 he won the pairs silver medal at the

Atlantic Bowls Championships The Atlantic Bowls Championships was a bowls, lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Atlantic region. The event was a qualifying event for the World Bowls Championship, World Outdoor Bowls Championships until ...

and in 2015 he won the pairs gold medal at the Atlantic Bowls Championships. He won a silver medal for a combined Irish team with bowls pairs partner Ian McClure in the pairs at the 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship. In 2018, he was selected as part of the Northern Ireland team for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

on the Gold Coast in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and in 2020 he was selected for the 2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Australia but the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In addition to his international successes he also won the 2007

Irish National Bowls Championships The Irish National Bowls Championships combines Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Traditionally, the game was played mainly in Northern Ireland, but the Kenilworth Bowling Club of Dublin joined the Irish Bowls Association in 1906, wh ...

singles. Kelly moved to Australia after the 2018 Commonwealth Games and won the delayed 2020 Australian triples title with Corey Wedlock and Brendan Aquilina at the

Australian National Bowls Championships The Australian National Bowls Championships and the Australian Open are competitions in Australia for bowls. They are organised by Bowls Australia. Bowls dates back to 1845 in Australia but it was not until 1910, during the 1910 Carnival of Bowl ...

. In 2022, he competed in the men's singles (winning a silver medal) and the men's triples at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

. Later in 2022, he won his first title at the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

and also won the singles and triples at the European Bowls Championships. In 2023, he was selected as part of the team to represent Ireland at the 2023 World Outdoor Bowls Championship. He participated in the men's singles and the men's pairs events. In the pairs with Adam McKeown, they topped their group before going on to win the gold medal, defeating Australia in the final. One week later, in the singles he went on to win the silver medal after losing the final to Ryan Bester. Later in October, Kelly won the Australian Nationals pairs title with Corey Wedlock. In 2024, Kelly won the Australian Open fours title with Peter Taylor, Ray Pearse and Carl Healey, it was Kelly's second Australian Open title.

Indoors

His first major success indoors came in 2019 after he defeated Brendan Aquilina in the final of the

World Cup Singles World Cup Singles The World Cup Singles was an event inaugurated in 2005 by the organisation known as World Bowls and was held until 2019. It was contested annually between bowlers from national bowls organisations. The competition was seen as th ...

. He was part of the winning trio that won the inaugural Ultimate Bowls Championship in April 2019 winning $60,000 AUD in prize money.

References

External links

* (2010) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Gary 1989 births Living people Male lawn bowls players from Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Northern Ireland Bowls players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Bowls World Champions 21st-century sportsmen from Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in lawn bowls