The 2024 International Bowls for the Disabled was held at Ekuruleni. Mandy Latimore reports on the event
South Africa was chosen as the venue for the 2024 International Bowls for the Disabled (IBD) Championships and Ekuruleni was that district that accepted the task of hosting the event. Delville Bowling Club was the host club with Kempton Park and Benoni Clubs hosting as well. Teams were housed at the Benoni Lake Club Hotel. Transport was supplied by DAATS.
South Africa was chosen to host the 2024 International Bowls for the Disabled Championship.Disabled Bowls is divided into two main categories: The visually impaired, which has categories from B1 to B4 (in which persons who are blind are B1 and those who have some sight are assessed and placed into the other three depending on how much sight they have); and physically impaired who are categorised according to how much balance and strength they have when delivering a bowl. Their categories are from B5 to B8.
South Africa took advantage of the home venue and hosted two teams: The official South African Proteas and an Invitational side. The country also assisted with filling up international teams that were unable to bring sufficient bowlers with local bowlers. There were nine countries who entered: South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, India, England, Scotland, Canada and of course South Africa.
Pairs and singles matches were played. The scoring was worked out so that there were selected players from each category and country eligible for points for the overall team scores; thus, the countries with more players would not dominate. Medals were awarded for individual and pairs play.
South Africa has always been at the forefront of the medals in international bowls, and managed to take the overall team trophy with a medal count of 19, which included seven bronze, eight silver and four gold medals for the individual categories. South Korea was a close second with 12 medals of which seven were gold, four silver and one bronze.
Scotland only sent three bowlers, but managed to win a gold in the B8 Men’s singles with Stuart Stevens beating South Korea’s Park Cheon Seok at the finals.
The South Korean side were in every finals match on the last day. Deon van Der Vyver from South Africa managed to fend off a strong challenge by South Korea’s Imi Chunkyu and clinched it by one point, while fellow South Africans Nico Beetge and Louise Evans lost their final matches to Song Myeungjun and Yoon Bokja.
Despite the championship being a success and our bowlers being among the best in the world, there is still very little media coverage and sponsorship for this sport.
Bowling is dubbed the “one sport for life” as there are very few adaptions needed in order to play the sport (wheels and castors adapted for mobility devices). It is definitely one that can be played by those with disabilities.
