Canada's Commonwealth Games Lawn Bowling team

Bowls Canada Boulingrin and Commonwealth Games Canada announced the Lawn Bowls athletes and coaches who will join Team Canada for the XIXth Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India from October 3 - 14.

Veteran international competitor, Keith Roney (Regina, SK), is headed for his third straight Commonwealth Games, having competed in Manchester, England (2002) and Melbourne, Australia (2006). Roney is joined by two of the world's outstanding international bowlers, Ryan Bester (Cabramatta, Australia) and Hiren Bhartu (Nanaimo, BC), along with other experienced Canadian champions and international-level athletes. On the women's side, Shirley Fitzpatrick-Wong (Winnipeg, MB), a silver medalist at the 2002 Games in Manchester, is part of a squad that combines experience and youth.
"This is a group of athletes that we expect will perform extremely well in Delhi," stated Chef de Mission, Martha Deacon. "I'm really looking forward to watching them compete in the Canadian Championships coming up in August in Edmonton."

Shirley Lenarduzzi, Co-Chair of Bowls Canada Boulingrin's High Performance Committee, added there is great excitement and anticipation among the team members who are preparing for the Delhi Games. "I have a really good feeling about this group," she added, "with such a solid mixture of experienced international athletes and young, rising stars, we're looking forward to some great podium performances in October."

The team will be coached for the first time by an Australian, David Millard (Cardiff, Australia). Prior to being named to the position, David coached in the Australian Premier League. He made his first international coaching appearance -- and his first as coach of Canada's national bowls team -- at the 2009 Atlantic Championships in South Africa in May, 2009.

The team was chosen after two selection camps: one in Arizona in January, with the final cut being made at a selection camp at White Rock, B.C. in May. The athletes include:

Women

Amanda Berg, 23, (Edmonton, AB). Her first major international competition.
Shirley Fitzpatrick-Wong, 39, (Winnipeg, MB). Silver medalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and 2009 Canadian Pairs Champion.
Rachel Larson, 53, (Saskatoon, SK). 2009 Canadian Pairs silver medalist.
Josephine Lee, 61, (Burnaby, BC). 2009 National Singles Champion and won silver at the Hong Kong Classic in December 2009.
Harriette Pituley, 52, (Regina, SK). 1997 Canadian gold medalist in Pairs and was a member of the National Team at the 2007 Asia Pacific Championships and the 2009 Atlantic Championships.


Men

Ryan Bester, 26, (Cabramatta, Australia. Hometown: Hanover, ON). 2004 World Champion in Pairs with fellow National Team member, Keith Roney. Currently ranked #16 in the world in Singles.
Hiren Bhartu, 52, (Nanaimo, BC). 2008 Canadian Singles Champion and currently ranked 6th in the world in Singles.
Michel Larue, 44, (Longueuil, QC). Gold medalist in Pairs and bronze medalist in Fours at the 2003 Asia Pacific Championships.
Steve McKerihen, 53, (Toronto, ON). National Team member since 2004, silver medalist in Triples and bronze medalist in Fours at 2007 Asia Pacific Championships.
Keith Roney, 62, (Regina, SK). Member of Bowls Canada's National Team for 23 years. Former Pairs World Champion (2004) with Ryan Bester.
Fred Wallbank, 58, (Toronto, ON). Four-time gold medalist in Fours at the Canadian Championships.

Austrlia announce Commonwealth Games bowls squad

Australia on Wednesday announced its lawn bowls squad for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games here.

Australia had topped the medal count in lawn bowls in Melbourne four years ago with three gold, one silver and one bronze medals and coach Rex Johnston believes it is possible to replicate that performance in Delhi.

'We're extremely happy with the final 12 that have been selected,' he said, preparing for his sixth successive Commonwealth Games campaign as a player or a coach.

'We have a strong mix of youth and experience, with the likes of Armitage, Turley and Casey being given the chance to defend their respective gold medals from Melbourne, while we've also invested our faith in the likes of Cottrell and Selby who have proven to be world class players over the past couple of years.'

Natasha van Eldik , 19, will be youngest lawn bowler to don the Australian colours in a Commonwealth Games meet.

She lines up alongside reigning gold medallist, 26-year-old Lynsey Armitage. The pair won the silver medal at the eight-nation tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium lawn bowls facility here in April.

The 20-year-old Kelsey Cottrell, a reserve four years ago, will make her debut in the women's singles, while Sharyn Renshaw (NSW), Claire Duke (NSW) and Julie Keegan (NSW) have been selected to play in the triples.

In the men's disciplines, world No.2 Leif Selby has secured the coveted singles role while Mark Berghofer and Aron Sherriff will play in the pairs and Brett Wilkie will partner defending Games champions Wayne Turley (NSW) and Mark Casey (QLD) in the triples.

Team:
Men Singles: Leif Selby
Men Pairs: Mark Berghofer and Aron Sherriff
Men Triples: Brett Wilkie, Wayne Turley and Mark Casey.
Women Singles: Kelsey Cottrell
Women Pairs: Lynsey Armitage and Natasha Van Eldik
Women Triples: Sharyn Renshaw, Claire Duke and Julie Keegan

Lawn bowling event: Day 1 results

India's campaign in the Eight-Nation Invitational Lawn Bowls Event started with wins against England and Australia in women's and men's triples event.

India beat England 9-8, 9-8 in women's triples while in the men'S triples they won 8-5, 4-14 against Australia via the tie-breaker at the renovated Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

However, there was some heart-break for India, as they lost 7-6, 3-10 to New Zealand in the tie-breaker in the women's singles. In the men's singles, they went down 4-13, 4-13 to England.

Women's singles:

Match 1: Australia beat Scotland 13-3, 8-5

Match 2: New Zealand beat India 7-6, 3-10, (NZ won in tie break)

Match 3: Malaysia beat England 10-7, 11-8

Match 4: South Africa beat Northern Ireland 11-6, 3-7, (SA won in tie break)

Men's singles:

Match 1: Australia beat England 10-10, 15-3

Match 2: England beat India 13-4, 13-4

Match 3: Northern Ireland beat New Zealand 13-5, 5-7, (NI won in tie break)

Match 4: Scotland beat South Africa 8-7, 10-5

Women's triples:

Match 1: New Zealand beat South Africa 8-7, 6-5

Match 2: Malaysia beat Northern Ireland 14-8, 12-7

Match 3: India beat England 9-8, 9-8

Match 4: Australia beat Scotland 8-4, 7-7

Men's triples:

Match 1: India beat Australia 8-5, 4-14, (India won in tie break)

Match 2: Northern Ireland beat England 9-11, 12-4, (NI won in tie break)

Match 3: Scotland beat Malaysia 12-9, 11-7

Match 4: New Zealand beat South Africa 16-2, 10-7

Lucky escape @ Lawn bowling event

It was a late addition to the eight nations lawn bowling event in the Capital but failed to sustain for even 24 hours. On Tuesday night, after the end of the first day’s play, members of the Commonwealth Games organising committee had decided to put up a giant screen at the Nehru stadium sports complex, venue for the ongoing eight-nation lawn bowls event, to add to the ‘spectators’ viewing experience’. Overnight, a giant screen was put up, just behind the bowling greens.

On Wednesday afternoon, the screen failed to withstand air pressure and collapsed, narrowly missing the bowling greens and the players practising for the evening session of the day.

“Yes the screen collapsed due to a slightly heavy sandstorm but thankfully nobody was hurt. That was our first concern,” said Sunaina Kumari, president of the Lawn Bowling Federation of India.

The screen, which was put up on the other side of the players’ area, fell away from the competition area and the bowling greens. We had not put it up in the first place. But some members of the organising committee visited later in the evening yesterday and said a big screen would look good, It was put up overnight,” she added.

While the screen was later removed and the evening session began on time — around 4.30 pm — the visiting participants did voice their concern. “It was scary. It was a good thing that the screen fell in-between sessions, and the organisers managed to get it removed in time. But we were shaken up,” a foreign player admitted.

Interestingly, while the screen was put up to enhance spectators' experience, the event is beyond any visit by those who might be interested. There are no spectators due to tight security and several hassles, while even those possessing an invitation card for the event have to go through layers of security and still be prepared to be turned back, again citing security reasons. The recent Rugby sevens test event in the city was also played almost behind closed doors since common public was restricted from entering the venue.

Lawn Bowling event gets underway in Delhi

The eight-nation lawn bowling tournament gets underway from today in Delhi. The tournament is seen as a preparatory events for 2010 Commmonwealth Games to be held later this year in Delhi. The venue for lawn bowling at the Nehru Stadium complex was inaugurated on Monday evening. It will not only bring one of the oldest sports to the country but also attempt to raise awareness about a game played by over 50 countries across the world.

The five-day competition is a test event for the big occasion — the Commonwealth Games in October — and the Indian team is quietly confident of springing a surprise or two against some of the top teams in the world. “It may be unknown to people here but did you know that the second oldest bowling green outside England is in India (Kolkata, 1830),” says coach Richard Gale, an Australian who has been with the Indian team since December 2008.

“Besides India, the other teams in the fray are Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Malaysia.

While Malaysia are the current Asian champions, New Zealand are the world champions. So it will be a tough task for the Indians,” admits Gale, who has been coaching the Indian team since December 2008.

India have two teams of six members each in men and women who will be playing the singles, doubles, triples and fours. The tournament will be played on a league basis with the top two playing the finals.

In fact, this will be the first time India will be participating in the event at the Commonwealth Games. “It was only after the 2006 Melbourne Games that India seriously decided to build a team for the event, since it is one of the mandatory sports. But now, in the past one and a half years, we have made good progress,” said Pinky Kaushik, one of the Indian team members.

Gale is impressed with the Indian team. “We won India’s first ever medals in the sport at the 2009 Asia-Pacific championships in Kuala Lumpur (two bronze) and our first-ever gold at the 2009 Asian championships in Shenzen (1 gold and 6 bronze). “We have been preparing for the past 12 months non stop, including a month long camp in Australia last month. This team is hardworking and I hope to see them at least make the top four here,” Gale said.

The 12-member Indian team — six men and six women — was shortlisted from among the 30 probables selected during the CWG trials in Ranchi in February 2009. India will be playing in singles, pairs, triples and fours in the event on a round-robin format, with the two top teams qualifying for the semis. Teams ranked 3-6 will play each other in a knockout round to decide the other two semi-finalists.

“Immediately after this, a four-member team will be going for the World Cup in Australia (April 22-29). We are making sure that, while the rest of the teams may be far ahead on experience, the Indian team will get the best possible exposure ahead of the CWG,” said Sunaina Kumari, president of the Bowling Federation of India.