Pattaya’s Coco Club, now the international centre for lawn bowls in Thailand, recently held an inaugural tournament involving the newly formed Lawn Bowls Association of Thailand, under President Lieutenant General Prapat Eke-Pho.
The 16 triples teams made up of 38 Thais and 10 farangs gave a good account of themselves and with the new players from Mahidol University and Paradise it was very competitive and gave a good idea of the future of Lawn Bowls here in the Kingdom.
In the Blue league were the Retreat, Num, Mahidol University and Paradise and while the youngsters of Mahidol showed great temperament it was the experience of the Retreat and Num that saw those teams qualify.
In the Green league it was Team Frank that took it and in a count back it was Ko who had the better shot difference over Sukom.
The finals were decided and with Retreat taking third spot the teams led by the players going to Australia for the Champion of Champions event in Helensvale fought it out in the final. In the end it was Team Frank – the Dutch champion assisted by Thai ladies Champon Sue and very promising Nit that prevailed over Thai men’s champion team Ko with again very promising newcomers Yai and Put. The finalists actually completed 100 ends of bowls in the two days.
The weekend of 28-30 October starts the Thai playoffs for the SEA Games next year with a 6 month training camp planned at Coco Club from mid January to mid July and sponsored by the new Lawn Bowls Association.
