HONG KONG—The fine weather over the last two weekends allowed the completion of all the postponed Premier League fixtures. After the halfway mark, Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC-A) maintained their leadership position and opened a big gap of 17 points against the chasing pack.
HKFC, who have only won two topflight titles, in 1996 and 2006, copied the success model of Craigengower Cricket Club to recruit a number of high-profile players to try bringing the glory to the club. New players include the reigning Champion of Champions singles holder Tony Cheung and talented youngster Anthony Yip.
Due to a planned renovation for their indoor greens, the HKFC team played all their home games in the first half of the season. They won all the games at home, dropping only 10 points in the process. It will be interested to see if they can maintain this momentum into the second half, when they need to play all their games away from home.
The defending champion CCC also added the reigning National Triples champion Martin Sham from Kowloon Bowling Green Club (KBGC) and ex-Hong Kong international Alex Ng from Island Lawn Bowls Club to their lineup. However, the team lost in the top-of-the-table clash against HKFC and suffered an 8-0 lost in Tuen Mun.
After the first half CCC lie level on points with third-placed HKFC-B, but are trailing the leader by a massive 17 points. Further down the table are Tuen Mun and last year’s runners-up Kowloon Cricket Club, who are level on 43 points.
Promoted team Club de Recreio have been anchored to the bottom since the season started. They have only won one game so far and are on 15 points. The positive point is that they are only nine points away from safety so a comeback is still highly possible.
For the women, Island Lawn Bowls Club have maintained their momentum gained from winning the Triples League and top the table. They won seven games in the first half and lead HKFC-B by two points.
The defending champion Shatin Sports Association did not performed well this year and are mingling at mid-table with 38 points, 10 points less than the leader.
Same as the men’s division, Club de Recreio are locked at the bottom but are only nine points from safety. It will be interesting to see how they perform in the remaining fixtures.
The second half of the season will re-start on August 26, with the lowest division starting on August 19.
This week in Lawn Bowls
Classic Singles Qualifying matches will be played this Saturday August 12, starting at 9am through to 5pm at Club de Recreio.
Claudius Lam is an officer of the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
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