Birmingham, Aug 1: India lawn bowls team assured itself a historic first ever Commonwealth Games medal after defeating New Zealand 16-13 in the semi-final of the women’s fours event, here on Monday.
This will be India’s maiden final appearance 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) will face South Africa in the gold medal clash on Tuesday.
“We cannot express our feelings in mere words. We have fought as a team and now our journey doesn’t end here,” an emotional lawn bowler Tirkey said.
“We have to play in a similar fashion against South Africa and do what hasn’t been done before,” she added.
Against New Zealand, after conceding a 0-5 lead after the second-end, the Indian team made a strong back against the Kiwi team of Selina Goddard (lead), Nicole Toomey (second), Tayle Bruce (third) and Val Smith (skip).
After end-9, they were tied 7-7 and after end-10, India took 10-7 lead. But it was a close contest between the two sides, as New Zealand was marginally 13-12 ahead after end-14.
A brilliant shot from Tirkey helped India seal the game with a 16-13 scoreline.
The Indian men’s pair was knocked out of the competition on Sunday after going down 8-26 to Northern Ireland in the quarter-final.
Lawn Bowls for Dummies
Lawn Bowls is played in three formats essentially – singles, doubles and fours, depending on the number of individuals pitted against each other.
The player/team which manages to place its bowls closer to the stationary target, called ‘The Jack’, are awarded the points.
The bowls needed to be rolled on the floor from a distance.
In the fours, or four-player, format, each team gets eight throws, or rolls, from one ‘end’. One ‘end’ means completion of one round.
One teams has to throw the bowls from 18 ends to complete the match and it happens in a circular manner.
The team with more points after 18 ends of throws will take the contest.
How are points awarded?
The number of points awarded is determined by the number of bowls a team has managed to place closer to the ‘Jack’ compared to its opponent.
For example: If team A places two bowls closer to ‘the Jack’ compared to team B’s closest bowls, it will win two points for the end.
In case team A had managed to place three bowls closer to the target than team B’s closest bowl, it would have been awarded three points. (PTI)
