Lee James Schraner (born 1982) is a lawn bowls dual World Singles Champion of Champions gold and bronze medalist. He reached a career high ranking of world number 18 in June 2025.

Bowls career

Schraner began bowls in 1994 at Mount Cottrell Bowling Club, located on the outskirts of Melton, Victoria. Schraner has represented Australia at Under 25 level and Open Men's Level on numerous occasions. He became the 132nd male to represent Australia in Lawn Bowls when he led in the pairs for Mark Jacobsen against England, in the "Battle on the Border" at Moama Bowling Club in February 2010. Schraner was omitted from the Australian Squad that same year, prior to the Delhi Commonwealth Games. In July 2018 he was named in the Australian Jackaroos Emerging Squad (the tier below the Open squad), but after just one year, he was omitted in June 2019. However, he won the 2019

World Singles Champion of Champions The World Singles Champion of Champions is an event inaugurated in 2003 that is contested annually between bowlers who have won their respective national singles title. The event was first held in 2003 at the Moama Bowling Club in Moama, Austra ...

, beating Tony Cheung in the final. He became the number one ranked bowler in Australia in October 2018 and held the ranking until June 2019. At age 37, he retired from official National duties stating "It is a great thing to chase your dreams but life is too short to chase them forever", clearly related to his lack of opportunity at the highest level. Schraner made himself available for the Australian team again in 2024 after a string of successful results, and was selected in the Australian Jackaroos Squad of 10 men for the 2024/2
season
Schraner won the World Singles Champion of Champions for the second time in 2024, defeating New Zealander Aiden Takarua in the final.

National Championships

Schraner is the only player in history to have won the Australian Champion of Champions singles gold medal four times. These victories came in 2017 in Darwin, 2018 in Hobart, 2022 (for the 2021 event) on the Gold Coast and 2023 in Perth. He won the Australian Open Pairs in 2011, the Australian Fours Gold Medal in 2019 and the Australian Pairs Gold Medal in 2020.

Published Author

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schraner, Lee Australian male bowls players Living people 1982 births Sportsmen from Victoria (state) People from the City of Melton Sportspeople from Melbourne 21st-century Australian sportsmen