Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday lauded India’s impressive start in the bowls competition at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, following opening-day victories by the country’s men’s and women’s teams.
The Indian women’s pairs combination of Pinki Singh and Rupa Rani Tirkey began their campaign with a hard-fought win over Malta in the sectional Group Play stage, prevailing in a dramatic tiebreak after a closely contested match.
In a post on X, Mandaviya praised the performance, saying, “A thrilling start to #Glasgow2026! Witnessed an absolute edge-of-the-seat thriller today as our athletes clinched a spectacular victory on the very last delivery against Malta in the Bowls Women’s Pairs event.”
Competing in the discipline’s new indoor format, officially known as Bowls for the first time in Commonwealth Games history, the Indian duo overcame Malta’s Rebecca Louise Rixon and Connie-Leigh Rixon. After India took an early lead, Malta fought back to force a tiebreak before Pinki Singh delivered the decisive bowl to secure the victory.
India had made a confident start to the contest, with Rupa Rani Tirkey settling into the match early and Pinki Singh producing accurate deliveries to help the pair race to a 2-0 lead.
Later in the day, reigning Asian champion Putul Sonowal produced one of the biggest upsets of the competition by defeating reigning world champion and World Bowls Hall of Fame inductee Ryan Bester of Canada in the men’s singles sectional match.
Making his Commonwealth Games debut, Sonowal edged past Bester in a closely fought encounter that was also decided in a tiebreak after the match finished 1-1 in regulation play.
In the decisive tiebreak, Sonowal’s opening bowl landed closest to the jack, proving enough to secure the victory. He is scheduled to face Cecil Alexander of the Falkland Islands in his next Section D match on Friday.
(With IANS inputs)
