Jaw-dropping bowls tournament begins

Sports Reporter
IT will be an explosive long weekend of bowls action in the City of Kings when bowlers from all over the country compete for the Inter-Districts bowls tournament at the Bulawayo Athletics Club.The four-day tournament is expected to start this morning and will end on Tuesday.
The bowlers were looking forward to have the feel of the clubs greens yesterday and so they were in Bulawayo in the morning for practice. Bowlers from Chegutu, Chinhoyi, Gweru, Kwekwe, Bulawayo and Harare will all feature in the tournament.
The event will have six men’s teams and six women’s teams competing in the Singles, Fours, Trips and Pairs.
Bowls women’s national team skipper, Kerry Craven, said they were ready and looking forward to the tournament. “We have been training hard and we are hoping for a positive result. It will be competitive but we are going for it and I am sure we will do well. It is good to have all these tournaments with the Africa States coming next month to keep us on the greens,” said Craven.
The Inter-Districts were last held in 2011 and the defending champions in the men’s category were Matabeleland while in the women’s section it was Mashonaland.
The bowlers will play the Fours and Singles at the Bulawayo Athletics and end their tournament with Trips and Pairs at the Bulawayo Bowling Club.
Meanwhile,the bowls national team will be taking part at the Africa States in Windhoek, Namibia, after their fine performance at last year’s tournament in South Africa where they won a number of medals. Expected to fly the flag high in this year’s Africa States in the men’s category are Tom Craven, Clive Robertson, Pierre De Villiers, Mike Eaton and Roy Garden.
The women’s team will feature Kerry Craven, Heather Singleton, Ally Dale, Mel James and Jane Rigby.