The Para Bowls Home Nations Championships took place at Glasgow Indoor Bowling Club, from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th March. The event had teams from Scotland, England and Wales competing.

The format was a mixture of singles, pairs and triples matches, and the event was covered with Real Time Scoring throughout, provided by the Scottish Indoor Bowling Association.  This allowed the event to be followed live worldwide.

The Scottish Team – Physically Disabled
Billy Allan, Garry Brown, George Guthrie, Glen Livingston, Michael Simpson and John Wardrope

The Scottish Team – Visually Impaired
Robert Barr, Sandy McIntosh, Maria Spencer and Mary Stevenson

Directors
Sarah Jane Ewing, George Miller, Chris Morrow and David Thomas

Coaches and Support for the Scottish Team
Bob Christie, Chris McGready and Eric McMillan

Team Manager
Bob Dick

Janice Eaglesham MBE, Chair of Scottish Disability Sport, started off the proceedings by welcoming the Nations to Glasgow and the event. Les Shields, President of Glasgow Indoor Bowling Club, handed the facilities over to Scotland Team Manager Bob Dick. Gordon Woods, Indoor International Bowls Council President, gave a rousing and encouraging speech to all participants. The event was officially opened by World Indoor Bowls Singles Champion Stewart Anderson, who then spent time with all of the players with many photographs taken with the World Indoor Singles trophy.

6	SESSION RESULTS		Points	Shots
7	Session One	SCOTLAND	10	99
8	Friday 3pm	WALES	2	63
9
10	Session Two	ENGLAND	10	107
11	Friday 6.30pm	WALES	2	88
12
13	Session Three	SCOTLAND	6	91
14	Saturday 9.15am	ENGLAND	6	89
15
16	Session Four	ENGLAND	12	106
17	Saturday 12.45pm	WALES	0	37
18
19	Session Five	SCOTLAND	8	97
20	Saturday 3.30pm	WALES	4	70
21
22	Session Six	SCOTLAND	6	90
23	Sunday 10.00am	ENGLAND	6	88

Scotland came up just short in their bid to win the Championship. Needing to win on four of the six matches played on the last day, they managed three wins with England also winning three matches and Scotland edging ahead on shots by 90-88.

Mary Stevenson and Sandy McIntosh beat Sarah Marshall and Ron Homer 20-7 to win their Visually Impaired Pairs match. Maria Spencer and Robert Barr came back from 8-7 down to Alison Yearling and Darren Moon to win their match 17-10 in the other Visually Impaired Pairs match played this morning. Billy Allan and Glen Livingston moved through from 7 shots all to win their match against Mark Cooper and Mike Robertson by 20 shots to 8.

Bob Love maintained his dominant singles form for England against John Wardrope when he won 21-5. The other singles match saw Keiran Rollings convert his 11-1 early lead against Michael Simpson into a 21-15 win for England. Craig Bowler and Helen Wood won eight of the last nine ends of the match to end the unbeaten run of George Guthrie and Garry Brown.

The final standings were:

• 1st England 34 points +84 shots
• 2nd Scotland 30 points +67 shots
• 3rd Wales 8 points -151 shots

Keiran Rollings was the only player for England to win all four matches played and this was a feat matched for Scotland by Robert Barr.

Caroline Brown, the number one ranking female bowler in Scotland, was the guest of honour at the Closing Ceremony and presented the trophy to England Team Manager Mo Monkton and Captain Bob Love.

Caroline continued by presenting certificates to the umpires. Alan Brown, Denise Connell, Janice Grant, Doreen Strachan, Colin Stuart, Mary Watt and Grace Whitton.

Team Manager Bob Dick returned the facilities to Glasgow IBC President Les Shields.

First Scottish Disability Championships
Sunday 23rd June 2019, start time 10.00am

TOURNAMENT REGULATIONS

1. The current laws of Table Tennis and the Rules & Regulations of the ITTF and TTS will apply.
2. Qualification rounds for singles events will be by groups, except at the discretion of the Organising Committee.
3. All ties shall be the best of 5 games and 11 points.
4. Completed entry forms and fees to be sent to Kay Solaja C/O Dumfries Table Tennis Club Shakespeare St Dumfries DG1 2JE.
5. If it is necessary to restrict entries, this will be done based on “last in first out”.
6. The Tournament Committee will make the draw on a convenient date.
7. The tournament organisers will supply umpires if possible but competitors may be asked to umpire.
8. Play shall be on regulation sized tables with ITTF approved nets and posts. 40mm white plastic balls will be used.
9. When called to the table, players will have 2 minutes to appear knock-up and start the match.
10. Completion and submission of this entry form signifies agreement by the entrant to ALL conditions of the tournament.
11. ITTF dress and racquet regulations will apply. Replica football kit is not permitted, all clothing should be dark in colour (no white shirts or shorts)
12. Play will commence at 10.00 a.m.
13. Changing rooms are available; car-parking facilities are available at the rear of centre.

Scottish Open Disability Championships

Scottish Disability Sport is pleased to announce that 20 of Scotland’s leading para athletes have been financially supported by SportsAid Scotland.  The Robertson Trust, SportsAid London and Perth Kinnoull Rotary are the main sponsors and have allocated funds based on performance levels and sports specific commitments this year.

The following athletes will be supported in 2019;

Cameron Radigan (Archery)

Steven Bryce (Athletics)

Gavin Drysdale (Athletics)

Sam Fernando (Athletics)

Nathan Fleetwood (Athletics)

Alexander Thomson (Athletics)

Kieran Steer (Boccia)

Reegan Stevenson (Boccia)

Laura Cluxton (Cycling)

Hannah Dines (Cycling)

Michael Drever (Shooting)

Allan Ritchie (Shooting)

Callum Deboys (Nordic Skiing)

Michael Kear (Alpine Skiing)

Ryan Henry (Table Tennis)

David Beattie (Wheelchair Basketball)

David Hird (Wheelchair Basketball)

Ben Leitch (Wheelchair Basketball)

Josh Manson (Wheelchair Basketball)

Gemma Lumsdaine (Wheelchair Rugby)

The financial support offered to athletes at this level is invaluable and Scottish Disability Sport wishes to thank SportsAid Scotland.

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) has organised a BC3 Boccia Workshop on Tuesday 30 April between 1800 -2100 at Movement Park, Glasgow, aimed at all boccia coaches and ramp assistants.

This workshop has been developed in response to requests from clubs, coaches and ramp assistants.

We are delighted that Glynn Tromans, UK Boccia Performance Coach (BC3), and the McCowan family (international players and ramp assistants) will be delivering the workshops.

For further details please see the flyer below and to reserve a place on the workshop register online here.

BC3 Boccia Workshop

The development of lawn bowls for players with a disability has progressed significantly in recent years and success at international events and Commonwealth Games has seen the profile of the sport greater than ever before.

The para bowls programme has been delivered and lead by Scottish Disability Sport since the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester where Scotland took the gold medal in the para triples. There has been continuing success at World Championship level and a medal at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in the visually impaired pairs. Building on this and the achievements of the team prepared by Bowls Scotland, the programme will now be fully inclusive before and during the Birmingham 2022 Games.

It has been agreed that the responsibility for the B6/B7/B8 triples and B2/B3 pairs for the Birmingham 2022 Games will be fully included within the Bowls Scotland high performance programme.

Speaking about this exciting move, Alan McMillan, CEO of Bowls Scotland, said: “Both SDS and Bowls Scotland have integrated teams fully during the Commonwealth Games. However, we wanted to extend this integrated programme to the preparation phase leading up to the 2022 Games to further benefit all players and support staff. I am looking forward to seeing the outcomes of this integration in terms of continued successes on the green in 2022.”

Gavin Macleod, CEO of SDS, commented: “Scottish Disability Sport has worked closely with Bowls Scotland for many years to develop an inclusive environment for disabled bowlers. The profile of the high performance element has never been higher and with the full inclusion of para bowlers within the Bowls Scotland high performance programme, we look forward to continued success for Scotland’s para bowlers at Birmingham 2022.”