Guwahati: A team of eight other lawn bowl players from Assam, including Arjuna awardee Nayan Moni Saikia, left for New Delhi to participate in the Indian team selection trials for the 14th World Outdoor Bowls Championship to be held in Australia from August 29 to September 10.
The selection trials are scheduled to be held at the Yamuna Sports Complex in the national capital.
Besides Nayan Moni Saikia, there are a number of prominent names from the state in the 24-member probables list that includes Tania Choudhury, Bangita Hazarika, Mridul Borgohain, Mridul Bora, Ruptu Gogoi, Ananda Kr Narzary and Putul Sonowal.
In February, the Indian women’s Lawn Bowls team clinched the gold medal in the Fours event of the Asian Lawn Bowls Championship 2023, held in Kuala Lumpur. The winning team included Nayanmoni Saikia, Rupa Rani Tirkey, Lovely Choubey, and Pinki. India emerged victorious against Malaysia in the finals, while Hong Kong and Thailand settled for the bronze medals.
The same team also introduced the sport to the country after winning the gold in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. This was India’s fourth medal in the history of the Asian Lawn Bowls Championships, and the second in Women’s Fours event. It was back in 2009 when the women’s team won the gold in the edition which was held in China. Interestingly, Tirkey and Pinki were also present in this team.
Apart from the women’s success, other Indian players have also claimed medals in the Asian Championships, including Sunil Bahadur (Men’s Singles- 2012), Chandan Kumar Singh, Mridul Borgohain, Krishna Xalxo, and Dinesh Kumar (Men’s Fours- 2016), and Chandan Kumar Singh, Sunil Bahadur, and Dinesh Kumar (Men’s Triples- 2017).
Following the completion of the selection trials in New Delhi, the Indian team will attend a training camp in the city before heading to Gold Coast, where the world’s best bowlers will converge and battle it out for one of the most coveted prizes in the sport from August 29.
The previous World Championships occurred in 2016, with the 2020 edition postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament will now be held biennially, and this year’s 2023 edition will make history by including para disciplines for the first time ever.
On the other hand, a team of six players and two officials of the Lawn Bowling Association, Assam also left for Thailand on Thursday to participate in the 2023 Open Pairs COCO Indoor Bowls Clubs Competition. The championship will be held in Pattaya.
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The team will also take part at the 2023 RBSC Open Triples Lawn Bowls, Bangkok from July 26 to 30
The eight members of the Assam team for Indoor Bowls Clubs competition are Amal Teron, Dipankar Sarmah, Biswajeet Khound, Amarendra Bezbarua, Parismita Gogoi and Karina Patowary. Anshuman Dutta and Nipul Deka are team officials.
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