Glasgow, The Indian men’s lawn bowls pair of Navneet Singh and Dinesh Kumar extended their unbeaten run at the Commonwealth Games, registering a third successive victory after edging Botswana in a tense tie-break in Round 3, Match 2 of Section B here on Thursday.
In the only other match of the day, Nayanmoni Saikia of India lost to Malaysia’s Emma Firyana Saroji 0.5-1.5 in the women’s singles sectional-Section C.
The Indian duo looked set for another comfortable win after claiming the opening set 9-2, but Botswana mounted a spirited comeback to take the second set 4-3 and force the match into a tie-break.
Navneet and Dinesh, however, held their nerve in the decider to seal the contest and maintain their perfect record in the competition.
Playing as ‘lead’ and ‘skip’ respectively, Navneet and Dinesh displayed excellent coordination and precision in the opening set. Botswana’s Kaizer Geche and Charles Diteko struggled to find consistency with the jack, while the Indians repeatedly produced accurate deliveries to build an early advantage.
India opened the scoring with a single point in the first end before taking complete control of the contest. They raced to a commanding 6-0 lead after the second end and continued to dominate proceedings, comfortably closing out the first set 9-2.
The second set initially appeared to follow a similar script. India moved into a 3-1 lead by the end of the fourth end and seemed on course for another straightforward victory. However, Botswana produced a remarkable turnaround in the fifth end, collecting four shots to snatch the set 4-3 and level the match at one set apiece.
With the momentum briefly shifting in Botswana’s favour, the Indian pair responded impressively in the tie-break, producing composed and accurate bowls under pressure to emerge victorious and keep their unbeaten record.
The victory gave Navneet and Dinesh three wins from three matches, significantly boosting their chances of advancing to the knockout stage. India are placed in Section B alongside England, Namibia, Falkland Islands, Cook Islands and Botswana, and remain well positioned with the crucial group fixtures still to come.
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