Men’s bowling off to winning start 

Namibia has made a very encouraging start to their Atlantic Senior Fours campaign in Cyprus on Monday.

The men’s team won both matches on the opening day of the international bowls tournament for over 55s, and the women’s contingent won one and lost one.

In their first appearance in the World Bowls-sanctioned biennial event at the Athena Beach Hotel in Paphos – which was first staged in 2023 – the eight Namibians did their country proud as the event kicked off under a mixture of sunshine and showers on the west coast of the island recently.

Petrus du Plooy, Michael Rumsey, Karl Hartman and Johannes Jacobs were some of the most impressive performers, as they ended the first day in third spot in section two of the men’s division, albeit with a long way to go.

They were out first up in the morning session facing an Israel B side, which included Itai Rigbi, who was at the centre of a political storm earlier in the year – through no fault of his own – when his appearance at the World Indoor Bowls Championships, in Norfolk, England, caused uproar among pro-Palestine supporters, objecting to the presence of Rigbi and his two fellow countrymen in the tournament.

The triumvirate were subsequently barred from competing before the World Bowls Tour produced a dramatic U-turn, triggered by the vehement objections raised by United Kingdom member of parliament Rupert Lowe, who threw his whole weight of support behind the Israelis, which saw organisers come to their sense and reinstate the three men.

Back to events in Cyprus and there were to be few headlines emerging from this clash between Namibia and Israel, though, save for the ones reserved for Jacobs’s side as they romped to a pretty comfortable 22-6 victory to get their campaign off to a flier.

They then had a few hours to relax before springing back into action for the third session of the day, facing a tricky quartet from Jersey B.

Namibia raced out of the blocks, with confidence high from their opening win, but after steaming to a 14-3 lead after nine ends, they let the Channel Islanders back into proceedings, with Jersey B reducing the deficit to 15-12 just four ends later.

Thankfully for Jacobs and company, they regained their focus to eventually win 18-12 and secure a second successive win.

The Namibian women’s team of Val Gallagher, Herriette Partridge, Antoinette du Plooy and Truda Meaden were handed a tough opening fixture against England B, going down 25-6. They never really recovered from a slow start, although they were to bounce back in session three.

There they faced the relative minnows of the Czech Republic and it was nip and tuck all the way, with Meaden’s gang eventually securing a narrow 14-13 success and earning their first notch in the win column.

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