What is Lawn Bowls? All you need to know about the ball sport

India's lawn bowls team created history by winning maiden gold in the Commonwealth Games 2022 after defeating South Africa 17-10 in the final of the Women's Fours event on Tuesday.

Lawn bowls, also known as lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls close to a smaller ball called a jack or kitty.

A lawn bowls ball weighs around 1.5kgs. It is called a biased ball because it is heavier on one side which allows a player to curl it.

It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat or convex or uneven surfaces. It is normally played outdoors and the outdoor surface is either natural grass, artificial turf or cotula (in New Zealand).

If one team put two balls closer to the target than the other team's closest ball, they get two points for that end. If there are three balls closer to the target for the first team, than second team's closest ball they win three points for that end.

Points system

Scoring systems vary from competition to competition. Games can be decided when:

— A player in a singles game reaches a specified target number of shots (usually 21 or 25).

— A team (pair, triple or four) has the higher score after a specified number of ends.

Games to a specified number of ends may also be drawn. The draw may stand, or the opponents may be required to play an extra end to decide the winner.

According to the laws, the winner in a singles game is the first player to score 21 shots.