India’s lawn bowls team scripted history by winning its first Commonwealth Games gold medal after defeating South Africa 17-10 in the final of the women’s fours event in Birmingham on Tuesday. This is India’s first Commonwealth Games medal in the women’s fours format of the competition. The women’s fours team comprising Lovely Choubey (lead), Pinki (second), Nayanmoni Saikia (third) and Rupa Rani Tirkey (skip) ensured India ended up with another gold on Tuesday.
Lawn bowls, also known as lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls close to a smaller ball called a jack or kitty. A lawn bowls ball weighs around 1.5kgs. It is called a biased ball because it is heavier on one side which allows a player to curl it.
It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat or convex or uneven surfaces. It is normally played outdoors and the outdoor surface is either natural grass, artificial turf or cotula (in New Zealand).
Lawn Bowls, which depends on precision and athlete’s judgement, has been part of the Commonwealth Games since its inaugural edition in 1930. England (51 medals), Australia (50 medals) and South Africa (44 medals) are the all-time top three most dominating nations in the history of Lawn Bowls.
