Lawn stars

The Indian Lawn Bowls team was constituted barely two years ago, only after the event was included in the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi. On first notice, it would seem unthinkable that the h

Members of the Indian lawn bowls team during a practice session.

The Indian Lawn Bowls team was constituted barely two years ago, only after the event was included in the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi. On first notice, it would seem unthinkable that the hosts will step on the podium for any of the 18 medals on offer. However, if the team management is to be believed, the team has improved by leaps and bounds and does stand a chance of winning a medal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Sports Complex.

“The team has been together for the past 19 months and the there has been a tremendous improvement in the players’ performances,” Lawn Bowl Federation of India president Sunaina Kumari, overseeing the preparations for the forthcoming mega event, told Express.

On the positive side, the hosts have been training at the competition venue for the last couple of months and have had a fair share of international exposure.

“Preparations have gone really well and we are ready for the CWG. Hopefully, we will win at least a medal, touch-wood,” said Sunaina.

Competing for the very first time in CWG, India’s hopes in the new sport  primarily rests with two of the women’s events — singles and triples.  Farzana Khan will step up in singles while the team of Rupa Rani Tirkey, Pinki Kaushik and Tania Chowdhary hold out promise in triples.

The team played an eight-nation test event for the CWG at the competition venue in April where strong teams like Australia and New Zealand provided the hosts a look in into the kind of competition that could be expected at the real event. “Our team did very well against some of the best teams in the wor­ld. We missed top-three finish in the women’s singles and triples only by a whisker.”

The women’s triples team finished an encouraging fourth with Tania leading the way. In fact, the 15-year old Tania, who clinched a silver in the Asia-Pacific Championship in August in Kuala Lumpur last year, is poised to become the youngest-ever lawn bowl player at the CWG. Australian coach Richard Ga­yle has been on record stating that Tania was a definite a medal prospect for the country.

“Coach Gayle has worked very hard with the team and India won the 2009 Asian Lawn Bowl Championship in Shenzen,” said Sunaina.

The squad moved to Delhi in March after initially training in Guwahati for nearly a year. India also expects a good performance from the men’s triples team of Dinesh Kumar, Krishna Xalxo, Prince Kum­ar Mahato.