Commonwealth Games 2022 lawn bowls: India’s women’s fours team wins historic gold medal

The Indian women’s fours team won a memorable gold medal in lawn bowls at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, UK.

The team of Lovely Choubey, Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Tirkey beat South Africa 17-10 in the final at Victoria Park in Royal Leamington Spa to clinch India’s maiden lawn bowls medal at the Commonwealth Games.

South Africa, meanwhile, won their second straight silver medal in the women’s fours at the CWG.

"When we figured out yesterday that a medal was absolutely certain we went back home high on confidence," Rupa Tirkey said. "Our only wish for today was to come back to play with the same passion and emotion as we showed in the semi finals.

"We wanted to take to the turf with the same passion, emotion and teamwork... we knew we could win today as well. However, last night's sleep wasn't the most comfortable, thinking how is this was going to unfold, what will happen and what if we lose," Tirkey added

It was an even start to the final, as India took the lead after the first end but South Africa went ahead after the second.

The in-form Indians though surged ahead to an 8-2 lead by the seventh end. However, India could not score a single point over the next four ends as South Africa roared back into contention, levelling the scores 8-8 after the 10th end.

On the 11th end, India seemed to be ahead with three bowls to go but Nayanmoni Saikia rolled too accurately, hitting the jack, which took it away from the Indian bowls and closer to the South Africans’, which gave them a 10-8 lead.

India were in danger of losing further ground on the 12th end but skip Rupa Tirkey, with her two rolls, managed to push one South African bowl away, which gave India two points and got them level at 10-10.

On the next end, India took a potentially decisive 12-10 lead. With the jack rolling shorter than normal, the bowlers had to measure their rolls accordingly and a South African bowl hit the jack, taking it closer to two Indian bowls.

The 14th end saw India open up a 15-10 lead as South Africa tried, and failed, to get closer to the jack or push any Indian bowls away. The distance between South Africa’s closest bowl and India’s farthest was barely a few centimetres but the Indian bowl was adjudged to be nearer to the jack, giving them three crucial points.

The 15th and final end saw India consistently get closer to the jack and when South Africa’s final bowl missed the jack, it gave India two more points and confirmed a historic gold medal.

"We've had instances where we've lost international competitions by one point," Lovely Choubey reflected. "But we were determined this time around, at these Games, that we would not lose by one point."

Earlier in the day, the India vs New Zealand rivalry, which began in the women’s fours semi-final, added three more chapters at Birmingham 2022.

The trio of Pinki, Rupa Tirkey and Tania Choudhary beat New Zealand 15-11 in their first sectional match of the women’s triples.

However, the Kiwis got back in the women’s pairs as the duo of Lovely Choubey and Nayanmoni Saikia lost 18-9 in their first sectional match. Mridul Borgohain also began his men’s singles campaign with a 21-8 loss to New Zealand’s Shannon Mcllroy in section D.

The women’s triples team then lost their second match 24-11 against England while the men’s fours team of Sunil Bahadur, Navneet Singh, Chandan Kumar Singh and Dinesh Kumar won against 14-11 Fiji in lawn bowls at CWG 2022.