ZAMBIA WITHDRAWS, KENYA NO ENTRY South Africans accepted in world bowls

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32879, 30 March 1972, Page 24

ZAMBIA WITHDRAWS, KENYA NO ENTRY South Africans accepted in world bowls

(NZ.P.A. Staff correspondent)

A united Irish team and a white South African side will take part in the world bowls championship at Worthing, England, in June. The English Bowling Association has announced that 16 countries, including New 7 Zealand, will take part.

Mr Ralph Bentley, the championships secretary, said that the police had the question of demonstrations “under observation.”

“We are not expecting any demonstrations; certainly, we don’t know of any. If there are demonstrations, we will deal with them when they occur,” he said. However, two member countries of the International Bowling Board, Zambia and Kenya, will not play, and Rhodesia’s entry was refused "for political reasons.” Zambia withdrew and Kenya did not enter. The only other 1.8.8. country which did not enter was Japan, which has only recently taken an interest in' bowling. Mr Peter Hain, chairman of the Young Liberals Party in Britain and chief organiser of opposition to South African sporting contacts, said yesterday that he had not heard of South African participation in the world bowls event until the official announcement. "We would naturally be discussing this," he said. “We are interested in all con-

' tacts involving South African ' teams.” ' The 16 to compete are: • Australia, Canada, England, ! Fiji, Guernsey, Hong Kong, > Ireland, Israel, Jersey, ’ Malawai, New Zealand, Papua-New Guinea, Scotland, ! South Africa, Wales, and the United States. All 16 will play in all four r events—singles, pairs, triples 1 and fours. 1 The pairs and triples will 1 be played simultaneously in

the first week, June 12 to 17, and the singles and fours will also be played simultaneously. Dealing with the Irish question, Mr Bentley said the Irish Bowling Association represented all parts of Ireland, both north and south, and it was entering its best team. Three of the five players are from the north and two from the Republic.

Bowls, with 120,000 club members, is the second most popular participant sport in England (behind angling), and the club members have raised £27,000 of the £65,000 needed to run the championships.

The remainder will come from gate receipts, overseas donations and fees paid by the 8.8. C. which has agreed to televise some of the matches. The first world bowls championship was held in Sydney in 1966 after the omission of bowls from the Commonwealth Games in that year.

LONDON.