Explained: What Is Lawn Bowls? Rules, Scoring & India's Medal Hopes At CWG 2026

Last Updated:July 23, 2026, 14:36 IST

India's lawn bowls campaign at CWG 2026 starts before the opening ceremony, with the country hoping to build on its historic success from Birmingham 2022.

India will begin their campaign at the 2026 Commonwealth Games with lawn bowls, or Bowls, when Pinki, Rupa Rani Tirkey and Putul Sonowal take part in the women’s pairs and men’s singles on Thursday, July 23, a few hours before the opening ceremony.

At Birmingham 2022, India scripted history in lawn bowls as the women’s fours team of Lovely Choubey, Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey clinched gold with a 17-10 victory over South Africa in the final, while the men’s fours team settled for silver.

They were India’s first-ever CWG medals in the sport. Four years later, with the Games returning in a leaner format in Glasgow, lawn bowls is once again being viewed as one of India’s strongest medal prospects.

What Is Lawn Bowls?

Regarded as one of the sport’s most prestigious events, the CWG brings together bowlers from across the Commonwealth to compete against the world’s best.

In a CWG first, Glasgow 2026 will stage both Bowls and Para Bowls indoors, creating a more intimate setting for players and spectators alike. From the opening bowl to the end, the sport promises drama and unpredictability, rewarding composure while delivering gripping entertainment.

The objective in lawn bowls is simple: finish with more bowls closer to the jack, the small white target ball, than your opponent. Play starts with the jack being rolled, after which players take turns delivering their bowls.

How Do Players Score Points?

A point is awarded for every bowl that finishes closer to the jack than the nearest bowl of the opposing player or team.

If a bowler has the two closest bowls, they score two points.

The lawn bowls programme at Glasgow 2026 will feature four medal events: men’s singles, men’s pairs, women’s singles and women’s pairs. The bowls themselves are biased, meaning they are designed to curve rather than travel in a straight line, adding a layer of skill and strategy to every ball.

There is always plenty of drama as players use their own bowls to knock away their opponent’s and stop them from scoring.

Bowls is one of the six original sports on the Commonwealth Games programme and has featured at every edition since 1930, except the 1966 Games in Kingston, where suitable lawn bowls facilities were unavailable.

India’s medal hopes at CWG 2026

In India, lawn bowls has remained a niche sport for decades, played on a handful of greens with little presence in schools or colleges. But Jharkhand and Assam emerged as unlikely hubs after the 2007 National Games, with their state governments encouraging the sport by offering players stipends and government jobs.

India came close to a breakthrough before Birmingham, finishing fourth in the men’s fours at Glasgow 2014 and reaching the quarter-finals in three events at Gold Coast 2018, but a maiden CWG medal continued to elude the nation.

The fours and triples events that brought India its historic medals at Birmingham 2022 have been dropped from the programme for Glasgow 2026. Adding to the change, the competition will be staged indoors at the SEC Centre for the first time in CWG history.

India’s eight-member team still boasts plenty of experience from the 2022 Games. Gold medallists Rupa Rani Tirkey and Nayanmoni Saikia return to compete in the women’s pairs and singles, while 2022 silver medallist Navneet Singh teams up with Dinesh Kumar in the men’s pairs.

The duo heads to Glasgow in brilliant form after clinching gold at the Asian Lawn Bowls Championships in New Delhi earlier this year.

With seasoned campaigners across both disciplines, a format change may not stand in the way of India adding to its lawn bowls medal count in Glasgow.

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