Rain Disrupts Premier League Lawn Bowls Games Again

Lawn Bowls—Premier League

The rescheduled game between Hong Kong Football Club and Club de Recreio was played during occasional showers on June 13. Ex-HKFC bowler Tammy Tham (right) looked set to win against old team-mate Wanis Sze when she was leading by seven shots with only three ends to go. However, Sze won seven shots in the last three ends to tie the game 15:15 in dramatic fashion. (Mike Worth)

Another weekend of heavy rainstorm again washed away most of the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association Premier League games scheduled, forcing the League Panel to impose emergency rules to extend the deadline of rescheduled games to ease the already congested fixtures.

While teams are still trying to finish the games delayed by the poor weather over the past few weeks, the continuing rain last Saturday, June 15, forced the closure of almost all outdoor greens, postponing more games. Of the 60 games scheduled, only 21 were played over the weekend.

In fact, the weather has not been kind to the bowlers throughout the week, forcing the postponement of the Semi-finals and Final of the Ronson Au Mixed Fours from last Wednesday June 12 to July 1.

After the weekend, there are 34 men’s and 15 women’s games that need to be caught up. In view of the massive number of games postponed, the League Panel, under the HKLBA, announced the extension of the deadline for these rescheduled games, according to Cyril Leung, Vice-President in charge of the league.

“Normally teams need to replay the game within a period of 15 days, but we decided to give them until July 31 to complete these games,” said Leung.

However, he also warns the teams not to leave it too late to play the game.

“If the game was not played on or before July 31 for whatever reasons, penalty of points deduction will be imposed to both teams,” he continued.

The only Division 1 games that went ahead over the weekend were played at the home green of Island Lawn Bowls Club (ILBC), which is situated at an indoor sports complex at Ap Lei Chau.

ILBC, who was promoted as the champion of the second division last year, continue to struggle in the top division. After losing to the B team of Kowloon Bowling Green Club on Saturday, ILBC remain sitting uncomfortably second from bottom—they have played more games than other teams in the Division.

Women’s

The top two positions occupied by Hong Kong Football Club A team and Shatin Sports Association remain unchanged, despite not being able to play their games on Saturday.

HKFC-A regained the top spot after a 7-1 victory at the mid-week double-rescheduled game against Club de Recreio (CdeR) last Thursday June 13.

The CdeR team includes former HKFC top bowler and Hong Kong International, Tammy Tham. However, her return to Sports Road has not been a happy one so far, after losing to the HKFC-B on her favourite indoor greens earlier this season.

Tham was drawn to play against Wanis Sze, a veteran skip in the HKFC-A side. The score had drawn level 7:7 by the 10th end. Tham opened a lead of seven shots with just three ends remaining. But, Sze crawled back to win seven shots in the last three ends to tie the game at 15:15.

On the other two rinks, HKFC’s Emmie Wong and Camilla Leung beat their opponents respectively to earn Club a 7-1 victory and move them back to the pole position.

Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.