India women have qualified for the Lawn Bowls final in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. They will compete for a historic first-ever medal in the 'fours' format.
India's lawn bowls team guaranteed a historic first-ever Commonwealth Games (CWG) medal. On Monday, it defeated New Zealand 16-13 in the semi-final of the women's fours event in Birmingham of the CWG 2022 edition. It will be India's chaste final appearance in the women's fours format in the competition to date. The women's fours team comprises Lovely Choubey (lead), Pinki (second), Nayanmoni Saikia (third), and Rupa Rani Tirkey (skip). It will face South Africa in the gold medal contest on Tuesday. Against the Kiwis, it had conceded a 0-5 lead following the second-end, while the Indians made a strong comeback. The NZ consisted of Selina Goddard (lead), Nicole Toomey (second), Tayle Bruce (third) and Val Smith (skip).
After end-9, the teams were tied 7-7, whereas, after end-10, India took a 10-7 lead. It was a close contest between the two, while New Zealand was marginally ahead 13-12 after end-14. A brilliant shot from Tirkey assisted India in sealing the game with a 16-13 scoreline. The Indian men's pair was knocked out on Sunday after losing 8-26 to Northern Ireland in the quarterfinal.
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🇮🇳🤩 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 • pic.twitter.com/qCqYsjpH1I
"We cannot express our feelings in mere words. We have fought as a team, and now our journey doesn't end here. We have to play similarly against South Africa and do what hasn't been done before," lawn bowler Tirkey said on an emotional note.
Lawn Bowls for Dummies
Lawn Bowls are essentially played in three formats: singles, doubles and fours, depending on the number of individuals pitted against each other. The player/team that places its bowls closer to the immobile target, called 'The Jack', is awarded the points.
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WHAT A MATCH!!!!
If you think Lawn Bowls is not fun, needed to watch today's SF!!
Thrilling win for India, and we advance to the FINAL!!! First ever medal in lawn bowls 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾😀😀😀🥳🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉🎉🧨🧨🧨🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
That 2nd last shot under pressure was 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The bowls need to be rolled on the floor from a distance. In the fours or four-player format, each team gets eight throws, or rolls, from an 'end'. An 'end' means completion of a round. A team must throw the bowls from 18 ends to complete the game, which happens circularly. The team with the most points after 18 lots of throws will take the match.
How are points awarded?
The number of points granted is determined by the number of bowls a team has placed closer to the 'Jack' than its opponent. For example: If team A puts a couple of bowls closer to 'the Jack' compared to team B's closest bowls, it will grab a couple of points for the end. If Team A had placed three bowls closer to the target than team B's nearest bowl, it would be awarded three points.
Now this is SPECIAL folks :
1st ever medal assured for India in Lawn Bowls at CWG. Indian quartet of Lovely, Pinki, Nayanmoni & Rupa Tirkey are through to FINAL after beating New Zealand 16-13 in Women's Fours event
👉 Final tomorrow at 1615 hrs Vs SA pic.twitter.com/iI09DNC9S5
(With inputs from PTI)