Jason Thomas
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Friday, July 27, 2012
BRUNEI will be among the 30 teams competing at the 2012 World
Championships in Adelaide, Australia come November.
Speaking to The
Brunei Times yesterday, Brunei Darussalam National Lawn Bowls Association
(BDNLBA) honorary treasurer Abd Rahim Mohd Taib said that the country is looking
at competing in two tournaments in Kuala Lumpur prior the Nov 24-Dec 9 World
Championships at the Lockleys and Holdfast Bay Bowling Clubs.
Brunei will
join hosts Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, England, Fiji,
Guernsey, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Jersey, Malaysia, Namibia, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines,
Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Thailand, United States of America,
Wales and Zimbabwe at the World Championships which is held once every four
years.
Eight events will be on offer in Adelaide; men's singles, men's
pairs, men's triples, men's fours, women's singles, women's pairs, women's
triples and men's fours with Abd Rahim saying that Brunei will be competing in
all of them.
"We have qualified on merit so we will be one of the
countries competing at the World Championships," he said.
"We have also
received invites for two other competitions over the coming months.
"The
first is the Asia Pacific Merdeka Championships and the second is a pre-World
Championships tournament, sort of like a warm-up for the tournament
itself.
"We have started choosing players for the Asia Pacific Merdeka
Championships, but for the pre-World Championships, we're waiting to see who the
other countries will send before we select our team," added Abd
Rahim.
One tournament that Brunei will not be competing in, though, will
be the 2012 Langkawi Mahsuri Cup International Lawn Bowls Tournament which will
run from Oct 10-15.
Despite Malaysian national news agency Bernama
reporting on Wednesday that Kedah Lawn Bowls Association (KLBA) secretary Datuk
Shukri Ahmad said the organisers were awaiting response from invited nations
such as Brunei, Abd Rahim stated that BDNLBA are in the dark over the
matter.
"We have not received any invitation from Kedah," said the
honorary treasurer.
"They sent us an invite last year but we could not
make it as we were already committed to competing in other
tournaments.
"We might go if we get an invite ... But the trip will have
to be self-funded," he added.
The Brunei Times