Kenyans bounce back at Bowls championship

Joseph Kitosi of Kenya delivers the ball during their Africa States Bowls Championships match against Zambia held at the Karen Country club, Nairobi on August 21, 2019. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT |

What you need to know:

  • It was a great recovery for the Kenyan men after they previously lost to Namibia 16-13 and 15-14 in pairs and trips
  • Zimbabwe floored Namibia 21-12 in the trips while another match between these two sides in the pairs ended 17-17
  • South Africa’s coach John Mcardle says that their main goal is to attract younger players to the sport which is currently perceived as an old man's game

Kenyan men’s team Wednesday beat their Zambian opponents 24-7 in the pairs and 20-7 in the trips at the ongoing African States Bowls Championships at Karen Country Club in Nairobi.

Cephas Kimwaki paired up with Benson Kariuki in the pairs while Joseph Njagi, Njuguna Waweru and Joseph Kitosi formed the trips team to outclass Zambia in the morning matches.

It was a great recovery for the Kenyan men after they previously lost to Namibia 16-13 and 15-14 in pairs and trips. Kenya also beat Zimbabwe 20-10 in the pairs but lost 11-25 in the trips.

South Africa, who beat Kenya on Tuesday 16-15 in the trips, upheld their winning form to silence Zimbabwe 20-14. The South Africans proceeded to down Botswana 25-16 in trips and 21-15 in pairs on Wednesday. They also beat Zambia 29-7 and 32-5 in both the trips and pairs respectively.

Zimbabwe floored Namibia 21-12 in the trips while another match between these two sides in the pairs ended 17-17. Botswana thrashed their opponents Namibia 17-16 in the trips but lost 14-18 in the pairs. Namibia had on Tuesday thrashed Zambia 24-14 and 24-12 in the pairs and trips respectively.

In the women’s matches at Nairobi club, South Africa’s team beat Botswana 24-19 while Zambia edged Zimbabwe 21-19 in the fours.

Kenya men’s team manager Bernard Ndung’u said that there is urgent need for more East African countries to join the sport.

“We are hoping to encourage more East African countries to join for this game to qualify as an Olympic sport and have us compete at international level. We are currently just part of the Commonwealth games and the cut off for the Olympics is to have at least 44 countries in one pool,” said Ndung’u.

South Africa’s coach John Mcardle says that their main goal is to attract younger players to the sport which is currently perceived as an old man's game and also draw more government support to facilitate their travel and tournament organization.

“We have been very successful in Europe with the likes of Germany, France, Switzerland and Hungary but we need more African countries to grow the sport worldwide and also encourage younger players especially those who were sportsmen before to join in and lift the support,” said Mcardle.

Malawi and Swaziland drop out of the championship leaving only six countries in the competition.

Kenya will on Friday face Botswana in both the pairs and trips in the morning and Namibia in the singles and fours in the afternoon. South Africa will face Namibia in both the pairs and the trips in the morning and Zimbabwe in the singles and fours in the afternoon.

Zimbabwe will go against Zambia in both the pairs and trips in the morning while in the afternoon Zambia will face Botswana in the singles and the fours.