The last couple of months have seen the local bowls community out in force as a number of events have flourished as restrictions have gradually eased.
The Pattaya Sports Club League which saw a number of matches delayed is now coming to a conclusion. The Banchang Lawn Bowls Club were well placed to be the inaugural champions after a table top clash with the Retreat Lawn Bowls Club on March 12. The scores were tied but the Retreat took the honours with a better shot difference, but not enough to dislodge BCLBC from top spot.
The league was primarily created to introduce new bowlers to the sport and the blend of novices and experienced bowlers has certainly achieved its objective. The newly created Sunshine team is a classic example, all Thai players but with a superb attitude to the event as shown by the 7-year-old Thara who plays superbly and loves to bowl!
The Paradise Lawn Bowls Club, a relatively new facility in Jomtien, hosted its second annual Paradise Villa Cup event at the end of January. 32 bowlers entered the competition which was played over 2 days. The first day was a tough day of singles split into Cup and Plate with Darren Chatwin and Ian Riches taking line honours in the Cup and Thong and Pittaya in the Plate. The second day was a gruelling day of pairs which finished under the floodlights with the Thai pair of Sukhum and Anan nudging out Alan McMasters and Chris Bailey.
On the March 9, the Ban Chang Bowls Club held their Open Triples event with 12 teams entering. This venue is renowned as the quickest and quirkiest in the area so local knowledge is a pre-requisite! For those of us who’d never played there before the superb full English breakfast was the highlight of the day! Three random 8 end matches determined the 4 teams who would progress to the Cup, Plate and Tin Cup. These pretty much went by the form book with the 2 top seeds of Darren’s Drifters and the Ban Chang Bandits battling out a close encounter with Darren, Frank and Dean taking the Cup. The team from Paradise beat out team Jing Jo in the Plate, and John BKK taking the Tin Cup away from The Makems. Great day and thanks to Rung for the great food!
Then on the March 19, the Retreat Lawn Bowls Club held their Open Triples event on the grass at the Retreat – a very different proposition! Again 12 teams entered and played the same format as at Ban Chang. This time around results didn’t quite go to form with Glyn, Mal and Colin beating the strong combination of Ian, Alan and John in the Cup semi to set up a final against the Paras team of Sonti, Tong and Somtam. Glyn, Mal and Colin prevailed in a close match and took the Cup.
Barry’s Paradise team stayed the course and beat out the PSC team of Ray, Geoff and Brian to take the Plate and Darren, Frank and Dean were in the Cup final again, but not the one they had their eye on, beating Garish, Greg and Sean to take home the Tin Cup. Another great day!
Sonti and Tong are the coaches of the Thailand Paralympic Lawn Bowls team who will be competing in the Australian Open in June on the Gold Coast in Australia. We wish them all the very best!
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