Swimming: George Kirk closes in on another crown in style

George KIRK captured the Junior Singles title a record four times and is now chasing the Singles crown proper in the Edinburgh Bowling League Knockout Championships.

Last night's second-round action saw the Blackhall man swimming against the tide at 13-8 down to John Underwood of Dean but he threw himself a lifeline with a 4 to 12 and then powered to a 21-16 victory.

Chris Steven is seen as a major challenger for the title but the Pilrig star relied heavily on three full counts of 4 to see him into the next round at the 21-19 expense of West End challenger John McCrae.

In other matches Graeme McIntosh (Tanfield), BJ Smith (Hillside) and Daniel Gormley (Craigentinny) won by a good margin and John Urquhart (Ardmillan), Martin Lewis (Portobello) and David Bruce of Liberton were the others to progress in the competition sponsored by Ian Mackay Contracts.

• CARRICK KNOWE showed the killer instinct needed to become champions of the Water of Leith 1st Sixteen League by clinching the Scotmid sponsored title with a 5-0 away win over Gorgie Mills.

Colin Mitchell inspired the Carrick Knowe effort with typical fighting spirit that saw him on the canvas at 16-8 down but bounce back with a run of 2, 6, 6, 2 to skip Stephen Pringle, Robert Mitchell and Kevin Tennant to a 24-17 victory.

• GARY SMITH, the holder and No.?1 seed from Linlithgow, marched into the fifth round of the Scotmid-sponsored 13th West Lothian Masters with a commanding 21-8 win over Grant Ramsay of East Calder in last night's play.

Smith is joined in tonight's last-16 line-up by fellow seeds Grant Logan (2) of Kirkliston, Neil Speirs (4) of Kirkliston, George Sneddon (7) of Broxburn, and Thomas Mann (8) of Newbridge.