Philippine lawn bowls squad to defend gold medals at home in Asian tilt

Philstar.com

March 18, 2025 | 3:24pm

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine lawn bowls bets will be wearing bullseyes on their backs when the country hosts the 16th Asian Lawn Bowls Championships next month.

But head coach and tournament director Ronalyn Redima Greenlees is confident that the hosts will be up to the challenge in trying to defend the gold medals in the men’s pair and women’s singles events.

Eight golds in singles, pairs, triples and fours (men and women) will be at stake in the event set April 27 to May 4 at the Clark Bowling Greens in Clark, Pampanga. Twelve countries will field entries, including Malaysia, Iran, Brunei, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Macau, South Korea and China.

Rodel Labayo, back-to-back gold medalist in the pairs event along with partner Elmer Abatayo, said winning a third straight gold is their primary objective.

“Gusto namin dito sa Pilipinas mag three-peat,” he said during Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex Conference Hall.

Rosita Bradborn, on the other hand, will try to defend her title in women’s singles. She won the gold last year in Thailand after a couple of silver-medal finishes.

“Nag-tiyaga kami ng husto sa training para manalo ulit,” said Bradborn during the forum presented by San Miguel Corporation, PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, Smart/PLDT, MILO, and the country’s 24/7 sports app ArenaPlus.

According to Greenlees, lawn bowls has been in the country for over two decades, and was played in the 2019 Manila SEA Games where the hosts won one gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Unfortunately, the sport that was born in Great Britain, was not included in the calendar of the Thailand SEA Games in December.

Greenlees said Filipinos are ranked No. 10 in the world and have had victories in the Asia-Pacific level.

“Kilala na kami sa mundo. Dito lang sa Pilipinas hindi,” she said, citing the full support of the Philippine Sports Commission and the Clark Development Corporation for the hosting of the Asian meet.

“Full support sila,” she said.