With commonwealth games just around the corner, everyone is busy in preparation and anticipation. 17 sports events will be taking place this year. All of us, despite the fact that we are sportsman or not, can take guess at almost each event. We think of swimming when it comes to aquatics, running and jumping for athletics and so on. But one of the sports that majority of us cannot even guess at is: lawn bowls. With India hosting its first commonwealth games, this core sport surely is worthy of being discussed.
Bowls is a game in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls, called bowls, so as they stop in the vicinity of small, normally white colored ball called jack. It can be played on natural as well as synthetic surfaces, which is played indoors. In Delhi this time, it will comprise of 6 events. The rounds will take place according to “round-robin” format. The top players of the preliminary rounds will qualify for the quarter finals. From the commencement of the quarterfinals the games will be played as per the knockout format. The champions in the semi final rounds will then compete for gold in the women’s and men’s single, doubles and triple events. These events are for both men and women.
News regarding lawn balls that has been in circulation recently, and some may have paid attention to it, is the denial of visa to Indian lawn bowls team to play in Australia for training. Indian players were invited to play at St Johns Park Bowling Club where they were supposed to play against district zone, the state and even the Australian selection. But the visa application was refused by the immigration officials on the basis of financial conditions. They were uncertain if the team would have been able to support themselves in the country. Though, the coach has maintained that they were on governments expenses. Australia’s bowls team was one of the eight nations that competed in a tournament in Delhi earlier this year and majority of the people felt the gesture should have been reciprocated Down Under.
Lawn bowls is a new sport in this country and a little cooperation from Australian government would have been very helpful, also since they are the champions in this game. We do hope that the team gets good resources, though how scarce the chances are, and they can put up a good performance for everyone, especially Australia, to see. After all, WE are hosting the commonwealth this time and hoping is our birth right !
image: http://sasthamcotta.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/top-10-most-dangerous-sports-in-the-world/