Lawn Bowls Explained: History, Rules, Medals, India Squad at Commonwealth Games 2022

Birmingham, July 28: Lawn Bowls, or simply Bowls, is a prominent fixture in the Commonwealth Games 2022 starting at Birmingham from Friday (July 29).

India have assigned a strong contingent for Lawn Bowls, which has been a part of the Commonwealth Games since its inception in 1930.

But it is a low profile sports that often get shaded behind the blue riband events. So, here is a quick look at lawn bowls, its rules and India’s contingent among others.

1 What is lawn bowls?

It is essentially a British sports that traces its origin to the 12th century. Lawn bowls made its first appearance in CWG in 1930 since then has missed only one edition in 1966 Games held at Jamaica. Scotland and England are the most successful nations with 20 gold medals each followed by South Africa, who have 19 gold. Malaysia (4) and Hong Kong (3) are the only Asian nations to win a Lawn Bowls gold while India have not won any medal so far.

2 Law Bowls rules

The sport is divided into ends that are completed when all players have rolled, in turn, all their balls. The points are then counted, and each ball placed closer than those of the opponent counts as a point. For the next end, the game is reversed, and the mat is moved. Players must always keep one foot on, or, on top of the mat when rolling their balls. If their ball falls into the ditch, it is declared as dead. The basic rule is to place more balls than rivals near the jack.

3 Lawn bowls balls & Jack

The balls used for lawn bowls are of different sizes and must weigh up to 1.59 kg. They are slightly shaved at both poles, making one side is heavier than the other, which gives them a bias. Jack is a small white ball that serves as the target for players to be aimed with their balls.