World champions gather for Hong Kong International Bowls Classic
After an absence of four years, the Hong Kong International Bowls Classic is in action again this weekend, with a number of world champions hunting for their glory.
Perceived as one of the best outdoor lawn bowls competition in the world, the Classic was cancelled in the last four years due to COVID-19. This year the event will be held from November 11 to 19 at Kowloon Bowling Green Club, Kowloon Cricket Club and Club de Recreio.
Elite bowlers from England, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Macao, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Philippines, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Wales will compete with bowlers from Hong Kong for the singles and pairs titles.
This year a number of world-renowned bowlers will compete at the event, including World Singles Champion of Champions winner Hizlee Rais from Malaysia, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Emma Firyana Saroji and Azlina Arshad from Malaysia, World Championships singles winner Carmen Anderson from Norfolk Islands and 2023 World Championships bronze winner Selina Goddard from New Zealand.
The Hong Kong International Bowls Classic 2023 will be held from November 11 to 19 at Kowloon Bowling Green Club, Kowloon Cricket Club and Club de Recreio. Joining the overseas teams are elite bowlers from various clubs within Hong Kong.
Same as last year, all finals will be broadcast live through YouTube on Internet. Bowlers from around the world may go to http://www.hklba.org/live to enjoy the finals.
The Event Format
The Singles is a knockout competition that will be played on November 10-11 at the three venues, with the finals being held at the Kowloon Bowling Green Club on the afternoon of November 11. The 64 competitors include overseas bowlers and Hong Kongโs top bowlers comprising winners of national Singles events and qualifiers from local clubs.
The Pairs is a seven day competition. Twenty-four teams of each gender will be divided into two groups to play out a round robin competition. The top team from each group will enter the semi-finals directly, while the second and third place will meet in a play-off to fight for places in the semi-finals. The final will be played at the Kowloon Bowling Green Club in the afternoon of November 19.
The annual event, which includes Singles and Pairs competitions, it will be held at the Kowloon Bowling Green Club, Kowloon Cricket Club and Club de Recreio from November 11-12. Pairs will be held from November 13-19. Spectators are welcome and admission is free. Details and results of the tournament are available from the Lawn Bowls Association of Hong Kong, China homepage at www.hklba.org.
First organised in 1981, the Hong Kong International Bowls Classic is recognised as one of the best outdoor bowls tournaments in the world.ย Over the years, famous bowlers from all leading bowling countries have participated in the event.ย Hong Kong has won the Pairs title on five occasions and the Hong Kong Team won it in 2007.ย In the Singles, Hong Kong players George Souza Jnr, Noel Kennedy and Jordi Lo won their titles in 1984, 1994 and 2015 respectively. For women, Hong Kong Youth Team Amy Choi and Vivian won Pairs and Local Player Dorothy Yu and Vivian Yip won Singles in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
Please visit the associationโs website at www.hklba.org for updated results.
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Caption: The players. Credit: HKLBA
