Bowlers aim for ‘jack’

POLOKWANE – Bowlers from the province ‘bumped heads’ on the greens during the annual Mini Bushveld bowls tournament that was held at the Pietersburg Bowls Club on Saturday.

The tournament was attended by clubs from as far as Tzaneen, Modjadjiskloof and Mokopane. According to Christo van der Merwe, tournament organiser, the clubs came out in numbers to support the tourney with their sights fixed on the prize.

“The clubs came out in numbers to participate and each team got a chance to play four games. There were cash prizes at stake for the winning teams,” said Van der Merwe.

He added that the tournament was played in an 11 heads format rather than a 21 heads format.

Bowls or lawn bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll unevenly weighted balls so that they stop close to a smaller stationary ball known as a jack or a kitty.

Van der Merwe further said all the teams were very competitive and the tournament was not a walk in the park.

Van der Merwe and his team, consisting of Nicky Viljoen, Deon Viljoen and John Serns were announced as the overall winners of the tournament after they accumulated more points than the other teams.

The second position was claimed by a team from Modjadjiskloof while a team from Polokwane claimed the third spot. The three teams received cash prizes for their hard work. Van der Merwe said his team had to use every single opportunity to accumulate points since the game was played in the 11 heads format.

“The game is a bit difficult when it is played in 11 heads format hence players or teams cannot let the opportunities slip through their fingers.

“All the teams played well but there could only be one winner, fortunate for us, we were the victors,” he explained.