The first round of the new lawn bowls league got off to a tremendous start on Saturday 13th March.
The league consists of six clubs playing each other home and away over the next 10 months, culminating in a grand knockout tournament and presentation evening. The league commenced in great style with most clubs sporting new shirts and high expectations.
The matches, which included three separate disciplines played over five hours were hard fought but played with great camaraderie and sportsmanship.
The aim of the league is to promote the sport of bowls throughout the local community and the diversity of the players involved really reflects that vision. Newly formed Copa Sports are all local Thai business people who learned about bowls through the game of petanque and wanted to join in.
Siam Professionals and Paradise Bowls Club are predominantly Thais who love their bowling and the Pattaya Sports Club, Retreat and Banchang are a combination of expats and Thais, with some ladies to keep things honest!
In the first round the experienced Retreat team were too strong for the newly formed Pattaya Sports Club, winning 8 of the 11 matches. But all credit to the PSC for a valiant effort in what was their first ever competitive match.
Paradise Bowls Club utilized their home advantage to beat Banchang 7 to 3 with one game drawn. Banchang struggled on the slower green but will no doubt be looking forward to the return fixture at home!
The vast experience of the Siam Professionals was too much for the newly formed Copa Sports, romping home 9 to 2, but Copa learned a lot from their first outing and will no doubt get better as the league progresses.
A very positive start for this wonderful new initiative. The next round on Saturday 10th April will see Banchang at home against underdogs PSC, whilst the other four clubs will play at the Retreat Bowls Club. Matches start at midday. Spectators most welcome.
