India’s women’s lawn bowls team have funded their own travel at times, the historic CWG medal should change that

A constable in the Jharkhand Police now, Lovely found the gentle rolling pace and calming rhythm of lawn bowls an oasis for her shattered confidence. Knowing nothing of it, but always a bright brain, she got cracking on the nuanced angles of rolling the bowls around the game’s Jack, the target ball.

On Monday, after two consecutive missed chances having lost in the semifinals at the same stage, Lovely and her quartet made the finals of the CWG Lawn Bowls event, edging out New Zealand 16-13. They say it all changes in Lawn Bowls in one ball. For Lovely Choubey, Pinki, Nayamoni Saikia, and the day’s sensational star Rupa Rani Tirkey, with a whiff of a gold at this quaint sport, life is about to change forever after they meet South Africa in finals on Tuesday. A silver is assured, but no one’s thinking second-best when the gold is up for grabs for this bunch of rocking rollers.

🇮🇳🤩 MEDAL ASSURED! Indian Women’s Fours team have defeated 🇳🇿 in the semi-final after being down 1-6 at the end of the fourth end, to assure India’s first-ever medal in Lawn Bowls at the CWG!

📸 SAI Media • #LawnBowls #B2022 #CWG2022 #TeamIndia #BharatArmy pic.twitter.com/qCqYsjpH1I

— The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) August 1, 2022

Rupa Rani Turkey, played kabaddi when young, and similarly drifted towards Lawn Bowls. Her father worked in a post office, and after him, later her mother took over the same job. Her sister Reema Rani Tirkey plays cricket. For the Asian runners up (after Malaysia), all those international medals merely funded the next big tour – for which athletes were expected to partly fund their travel.

A sports district officer at Ramgarh now, it was Rupa’s critical last ball that sealed the win for India helping them go past the Kiwis – a threshold they had been stuttering at all these years. Perhaps aware she had nothing to lose given this would be her last Commonwealth Games, Rupa went for broke boldly. It was very calm and collected – like a certain MS Dhoni and his sixes. It sent India from 1-down to 3-up.

India beats mighty New Zealand by 16-13 in Lawn Bowls Women's Fours to reach the Final at Birmingham, Secures Silver🥈
Assam’s Nayanmoni Saikia is a key member of this team.#gmsilchar #goodmorningsilchar #CWG2022 #CWG2022India #CommonwealthGames2022 #goldforindia #lawnbowls pic.twitter.com/PeRoWOjxGw

— goodmorningsilchar (@gmsilchar) August 1, 2022

Dhoni, incidentally likes to have an occasional bowl at the Jharkhand facility where the team would be camped in practice.

Nayamoni Saikia, also a constable in the Assam Police along with Pinki, a sports teacher at a RK Puram school in Delhi completed the team of pathbreakers. Hosting nationals across Ranchi and Guwahati and a basic facility in Delhi, helped take the game beyond Jharkhand.

Jharkhand connect

Almost all the lawn bowler finalists in the current team are trained by Madhukant Pathak, a former cricket umpire, who is punch pleased with the result. “Pehle toh isko sport maante hi nahi hai. (First of all people don’t consider this a sport) And then the mocking after losing in 3 semis used to be terrible for Indian players. There was no match exposure for them, and they were often asked “kya ball ko dhakka dete rehte ho aur kehte ho sport hai! (Players were asked how can you keep rolling balls and call it a sport?)” he recalls.

Pathak first met Steve Waugh circa 2000 during an international at Jamshedpur where he was 4th umpire, and when he travelled to Australia in 2003-4, he saw Waugh play lawn bowls at his home. The other insouciant twin, Mark Waugh, was better at this too.

Oh this lovely throw by Pinki and great commentary by Rupa Rani Tirkey 😍 Her team spirit & sincerity made India win against New Zealand’s #LawnBowls team. India secures a medal with such ease & Jharkhand vaasis get one more player to be proud of#CommonwealthGames #India4CWG2022 pic.twitter.com/vIvXgPfAeR

— Ved Vriti (@VedVriti) August 1, 2022

“He said it’s as good as batting, and a good workout for cricket. You have to bend just like cricket batsmen do. And it helps in concentration and ghaas ka maamla hota hai (it is also played on grass). I realised it has no physical parameters, anyone from 9 to 99 can play. And it’s great for the Indian mentality. We don’t like exertion. But have sharp brains,” he says.

So he stayed on in Australia and trained to be a coach. Plenty of game rejects from other sports formed his trainees in Ranchi. Now the team has access to software that helps them nail the ‘touchers’ – best rolled balls in the sport, that rolls in from around the Jack. The Indians put in 250 full length rolls a day to attain consistency.

It’s like billiards played on a 40×40 grass field, but has plenty of technology to get better. At Glasgow Games, the Indians had found the going tough on natural grass after training on synthetic carpets. On real grass bowlers need more power and shoulders, and India’s only natural facility at Kolkata is a privileged closed private club. Also when it rained, India often lost. A bright sunshine day on Monday meant Indians felt an added fortification of warmth. After this medal, many doors should open for the lawn bowling queens.