HKFC Closing the Gap on CCC

Lawn Bowls—Premier League

Kowloon Bowling Green Club bowler Musa Karamdin got excited with a great shot delivered by his skipper Ye Sui Ying (not in photo) at the Premier League Division 1 match last weekend, June 9. at the Hong Kong Football Club. His joy was short lived as the KBGC team came out as the losing side after the final end. Stephanie Worth

HONG KONG—The lead of defending champions Craigengower Cricket Club (CCC) at the top of the Premier League Division 1 was cut to just two points after the other teams caught up with the number of games played.

The game between CCC and the Youth Development Team, which was originally scheduled for last weekend, was pushed forward to play three weeks ago so that some of the CCC members can travel to play at the Australian Open.  The game finished 8-0 to the advantage of CCC.

Third-placed Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC) played lowly Kowloon Bowling Green Club (KBGC) at home and needed a superb performance from the rink of Derek Wyllie in the last end to complete the 8-0 victory.

Wyllie played against Chinese international Ye Sui Ying and the game was tied on 12-12 into the last end.  Ye’s number three Musa Karamdin drew a good bowl to hold the shot but seconds later Wyllie’s third Neil Harrington trailed the jack to regain the shot.  Ye tried to take out the shot as Wyllie played some defensive bowls.  Ye missed his second shot by a centimeter and lost the game 13-12.

Derek Wyllie (Delivering) of the Hong Kong Football Club had to fight until the last end to defeat China international Ye Sui Ying 13:12 in the Premier League Division 1 match last weekend, June 9. HKFC kept the eight points at home and surged to the second spot on the table. Stephanie Worth

KBGC drop into the relegation zone after the defeat as second from bottom HKFC-B fully optimized their home green advantage to defeat Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC) 8-0 at their indoor carpet green.

After losing 8-0 in all of their first four games, bottom club Club de Recreio (CdeR) continued their revival with a back-to-back victory away from home, this time against the newly promoted Hong Kong Cricket Club.  The 1-7 win was not enough to take CdeR out of the bottom but they are now just one point behind KBGC and two points adrift of HKFC-B.

This weekend will see CdeR trying to get their first point at home against HKFC-A.  CCC will play last year’s second runners-up KCC at home.

For the women, the defending champion Island Lawn Bowls Club (ILBC) regained the top spot after briefly losing it to 2016 champions Shatin Sports Association (STSA) last week.

The two teams both played at home last weekend.  ILBC defeated United Services Recreation Club 8-0 but STSA could only draw with newly promoted Tseung Kwan O Bowling Club (TKOBC) 4-4.

After the game ILBC had accumulated 37 points, five points more than STSA. Kowloon Cricket Club are third with 28 points.  TKOBC have dropped to the bottom after their draw, but they are only one point behind the three teams ahead of them.

This week in Lawn Bowls

The Premier League continues this Saturday (June 16) at 2:30pm at all greens in Hong Kong.

Claudius Lam is an officer of the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.