Shivaan Padayachi and Litia Tikoisuva took the respective men’s and women’s singles titles of the HFC Bank-sponsored Pineapple Cup bowling competition, which ended yesterday..
Padayachi finished ahead of Bobby Prasad in the men’s category, while Tikoisuva defeated Loretta Kotoisuva in the women’s final, but it was the emergence of several young bowlers that left tournament director Tikoisuva particularly encouraged.
Several newcomers reached the women’s quarterfinals, while 11-year-old Kaiwai Turaga also caught attention in the men’s division after defeating eventual winner Shivan Padayachi during pool play.
Padayachi recovered from the setback to claim the men’s singles title.
For Tikoisuva, the performances showed the importance of introducing more young people to the sport.
“It’s no longer an old people’s game,” she said.
Tikoisuva said the Suva Bowling Club wanted to encourage schools and families to bring children into the sport.
The singles competition was also shaped by changing weather conditions, with sunshine and rain making the green difficult to read and forcing players to continually adjust their approach.
Despite the conditions, Tikoisuva said bowlers adapted and produced competitive performances.
The Pineapple Cup has been a fixture on Fiji’s lawn bowls calendar since 1928, with this year’s tournament marking its 97th annual staging after the 2020 edition was missed because of COVID-19.
Attention now turns to the National Open Singles event.
