LAWN BOWLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you ever want to see a different type of athlete make your way to a lawn bowls match. With the Commonwealth Games being held here in Delhi for the past two weeks we thought it would be a
perfect time to check out this awesome, bocchi-like sport.
After driving around Nehru stadium with our friends Kate and Jason looking for the entrance for a bit, we were able to find the ticketing booth where we could pick up the 50 Rs. tickets I had purchased earlier online. Though there was a huge line it seemed most people were trying to buy tickets for some of the more popular events for later in the week (we would soon learn that lawn bowls was NOT one of the more popular sports). As a result, we got to bypass the line and a helpful volunteer came out of the back of the booth with our tickets a couple of minutes later. We also got to skip the long line of people trying to get into the stadium to see the track and field events. Instead we were whisked through the entrance to the lawn bowls "rinks" and into the action.
As I mentioned earlier lawn bowls is similar to bocchi, except don't ever tell a lawn bowler that. We ended up watching the Canada vs. Cook Islands match with some relatives of the Canadian bowlers (and avid bowlers themselves) and they had some no-so-kind words for the inevitable bocchi comparison. The major difference between bocchi and lawn bowls, aside from the more complex scoring system in the latter, is that the bowls used in lawn bowls are "on the bias". Basically this means they are like thick donuts with no holes and so they can travel on a curved path towards the small white ball (called the "jack"or "kitty"). The Canadians spent a good deal of time explaining some of the finer points of the rules and strategies in lawn bowls, but I've totally forgotten it all. What I do remember are seeing some sweet bowls from some incredible athletes from islands and countries that don't often get the chance to be in the spotlight. Go Niue!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The Only Real Sport at the Commonwealth Games
LAWN BOWLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you ever want to see a different type of athlete make your way to a lawn bowls match. With the Commonwealth Games being held here in Delhi for the past two weeks we thought it would be a
perfect time to check out this awesome, bocchi-like sport.
After driving around Nehru stadium with our friends Kate and Jason looking for the entrance for a bit, we were able to find the ticketing booth where we could pick up the 50 Rs. tickets I had purchased earlier online. Though there was a huge line it seemed most people were trying to buy tickets for some of the more popular events for later in the week (we would soon learn that lawn bowls was NOT one of the more popular sports). As a result, we got to bypass the line and a helpful volunteer came out of the back of the booth with our tickets a couple of minutes later. We also got to skip the long line of people trying to get into the stadium to see the track and field events. Instead we were whisked through the entrance to the lawn bowls "rinks" and into the action.
As I mentioned earlier lawn bowls is similar to bocchi, except don't ever tell a lawn bowler that. We ended up watching the Canada vs. Cook Islands match with some relatives of the Canadian bowlers (and avid bowlers themselves) and they had some no-so-kind words for the inevitable bocchi comparison. The major difference between bocchi and lawn bowls, aside from the more complex scoring system in the latter, is that the bowls used in lawn bowls are "on the bias". Basically this means they are like thick donuts with no holes and so they can travel on a curved path towards the small white ball (called the "jack"or "kitty"). The Canadians spent a good deal of time explaining some of the finer points of the rules and strategies in lawn bowls, but I've totally forgotten it all. What I do remember are seeing some sweet bowls from some incredible athletes from islands and countries that don't often get the chance to be in the spotlight. Go Niue!
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