By Quentin Paimparay

At bespoken, we like to cover the Commonwealth Games. Of the 5 sports devoted to Para-Sport competitors, this week we look at Lawn Bowls.

Briefly, Lawn Bowls is a game developed from a game played by the ancient Egyptians. The oldest Lawn Bowls site which is based in Southampton has been in operation since 1299. Today 47 countries worldwide play Lawn Bowls and the game is dominated by England, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Para-Sport lawn bowls made its appearance on the Commonwealth Games schedule for the first time in Manchester in 2002.

For the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014, two Lawn Bowls events will be devoted to Para-Sport athletes: one for bowlers who are visually impaired and one for those who have a physical disability. Those two events will take place at Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Centre in Glasgow. Teams can be made up of bowlers from all age and backgrounds. Competitors who can play singles, pairs, triples or fours have to mix precision and boldness in order to get one or more of their team’s bowls closer to the jack than the opponent’s.

Five Para-Sport lawn bowls players and two directors will represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Selection is hard; to be selected, bowlers had to go through two major qualification events. A training camp took place in Portugal in March where players were assessed prior to final selection for nomination.

Following the training camp, the teams were chosen. The first team will include Billy Allan, Michael Simpson and Kevin Wallace. The second team is a mixed pair and it will be made up of Robert Conway and Irene Edgar who both have a visual impairment. They will be supported by the directors Ron McArthur and David Thomas who for the first time are classed as athletes. Thereby, they will be eligible to receive any medals won.

Billy Allan, Michael Simpson and Kevin Wallace are well experienced as they have been successful in other competitions. Indeed, together they won the 2013 Eight Nations Commonwealth Invitational Championships. In 2011, Kevin Wallace also won gold in the singles and bronze in the pairs with Michael Simpson in the Bowls for Disabled World Championships. As far as the second team is concerned, Robert Conway won gold in 2013 at the International Blind Bowls Association World Championships and also bronze in pairs with his partner Irene Edgar beating England in the third place medal match. The two teams are confident and they intend to clinch gold at in Glasgow.  

Pending the beginning of the events, many people of note have responded. Among them, Team Scotland Chef de Mission Jon Doig said: “Huge congratulations to all of the athletes who have been selected for Team Scotland.” Bob Dick, Head Coach, also said: “All of our bowlers have worked very hard to be selected and are extremely worthy of the honour. We certainly have the capability of winning medals in both events”.

The XX Commonwealth Games will be a good way to bring out the Para-Sport events. Do you feel interested and involved in the Para-Sport commonwealth games? Let us know. Click here to watch a video about Para-Sport lawn bowls.