Les Gillett

Les Gillett
Personal information
NationalityBritish (English)
Born (1970-11-17) 17 November 1970 (age 54)
North Cotswold, England
Sport
Club(indoor) Leicester
(outdoor) Oxfordshire & Banbury Borough BC
Medal record
Representing  England
World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 2001 Yarmouth Men's pairs
Gold medal – first place 2017 Yarmouth Open pairs
Gold medal – first place 2022 Yarmouth Open singles
British Isles Championships
Gold medal – first place 1995 Llanelli fours
English Nationals
Gold medal – first place 1994 fours
Gold medal – first place 1998 fours

Leslie John Gillett (born 17 November 1970) is an English international indoor and lawn bowls player.[1] He is nicknamed Razor.

Bowls caree r

Indoor career

Gillett won the 2001 World Indoor Bowls Championship pairs title in Great Yarmouth with bowls partner Mark McMahon.[2] Sixteen years later he won his second title when he won the Open pairs with Jason Greenslade at the 2017 World Indoor Bowls Championship in Great Yarmouth.[3][4]

At the 2022 World Indoor Bowls Championship, Gillett (as the sixth seed) finally won the Open singles title after defeating five-time champion Paul Foster in a tie-break set in the final. Gillett won the first set by virtue of overtaking Foster's lead during the final ends. Foster comfortably won the second set before Gillett won the tie break.[5]

Other major wins include the 1997 International Open and 2002 Welsh Open. He now represents the Leicester indoor club.[6]

Outdoor career

Gillett is a two times winner at the National Championships in the (national fours) in 1994, when representing Cheltenham and Gloucestershire BC and 1998, when representing Oxfordshire and Banbury Borough BC.[7] He has also been twice runner-up in the singles and won the national junior singles in 1993.[8]

After the 1994 fours success Gillett subsequently won the 1995 British Isles Bowls Championships in Llanelli.

Personal life

He is an estimator/buyer by trade and is married to Sadie Gillett with three children.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Les Gillett Profile". World Bowls Tour.
  2. ^ "Bowls pair slam crowd's "ignorance"". BBC Sport.
  3. ^ "World Indoor Bowls: Jason Greenslade and Les Gillett win world titles". BBC Sport.
  4. ^ "Profile". Bowls tawa.
  5. ^ "World Indoor Bowls: Les Gillett secures first singles title to deny Paul Foster a historic sixth". BBC. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Profile". World Bowls TV.
  7. ^ "Past Records". Bowls England.
  8. ^ "Gillett target". Gloucestershire Echo. 7 September 1993. Retrieved 22 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.