Women to get a bowl

Press, 14 August 1978, Page 18

Women to get a bowl

NZPA staff correspondent Edmonton Women’s bowls has been added to the programme for future Commonwealth Games. It is not certain, however, whether the ladies will get their chance at the XII Games in Brisbane in 1982 or whether they will have to wait until 1986. The Commonwealth Games Federation, which held its biennial general assembly in Edmonton yesterday, also decided to add a women’s 400 m hurdles event to the track and field programme at future Games.

The honorary sectretary of the federation (Mr Sandy Duncan) said at a press conference later that there was a possibility that table tennis could be included in the future.

“The possible inclusion of table tennis in the Games has been made possible by the adoption by the Table Tennis Federation of amateur rules. Before there were only ‘players’. Now they have separate sections for ’amateurs’ and for ‘players’,” he said.

Mr Duncan said in a subsequent interview that the position of badminton at future Games might have to be considered if the game went "open” in the way that tennis has done.

Badminton is on the programme for Brisbane in 1982. The only sport on the Edmonton programme not on the Brisbane programme

is gymnastics. It has been replaced by archery. There have been tentative bids from three countries to run the Games in 1986, but Mr Duncan said others could be expected before the next general assembly of the Games federation is held at the time of the Olympic Games in Moscow two years from now. The bids are from Scotland (Edinburgh), Northern Ireland (Belfast) and Trinidad and Tobago (Port of Spain). “These are only tentative bids. I expect Enlgand could make a proposal and we are hopeful that Nigeria or Kenya in Africa and Hong Kong might be interested,” he said. The venue for the 1986 Games will be decided at the Moscow meeting.

"Our aim has been to keep the Commonwealth Games to a manageable size and it should not be beyond the resources of a number of smaller countries to run them,” Mr Duncan said. A proposal that swimming and track and field competition be retained as obligatory sports but the other sports not t be included unless a minimum agreed number of Commonwealth countries affiliated with their international federations, participated in world, regional, continental, group or area championships or games, was passed. A proposal that squash be added to the list of possible sports for future Games was deferred in the meantime.