Coco Club near Pattaya was delighted to receive an enquiry from the Korea Disabled Veterans Sports Council to host a special bowls tournament recently. The Korean players, all wheelchair bound, arrived a day early to settle in and have a practice day and whilst being extremely polite and undemanding despite their disabilities, the visiting bowlers were focused on the competition and spent long hours preparing.
Match day arrived on Saturday and the 6 Thai national lady players turned up at 9.00 a.m. The draw was made and a designated rink was marked out for the singles, pairs and triples matches.
Players, managers and match officials raise a cheer after a competitive but friendly tournament.
At half time for lunch it was all square at 6 points each and by mid-afternoon it was still tied at 9-all. The final games would prove to be decisive and the Thai ladies moved ahead to win the contest 15 to 9, but the bowls score was 144 -128, just a 16 bowls difference over 12 games. It was very difficult and unfair to choose any particular match as the best one and it was all played in a superb atmosphere.
The victorious Thai ladies team.
Now that Thailand has a disabled lawn bowls facility of its own, enquiries are already coming in from Singapore and Malaysia for January and February fixtures. All we need now are some local disabled players to form a team.
