Commonwealth Games 2026: Everything you need to know about India's lawn bowls campaign

The Commonwealth Games 2026 are set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland, from July 23 to August 2.

Lawn bowls returns as one of the sports to watch after India scripted history at Birmingham 2022 by winning its first-ever Commonwealth Games medals in the sport.

The 2026 edition will feature only 10 sports after the original host, the Australian state of Victoria, withdrew from hosting the Games in 2023 due to financial concerns. Glasgow later stepped in to host a smaller, more cost-effective edition of the Games, with lawn bowls among the sports retained for the competition.

At the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, India created history by winning its first-ever medals in lawn bowls. The women's fours team clinched a historic gold medal, while the men's fours team followed it up with a silver.

What is lawn bowls?

Lawn bowls is a precision sport played with biased bowls and a smaller target ball called the jack. The objective is to roll the bowls as close to the jack as possible.

At the end of every round, known as an "end", the player or team whose bowl is closest to the jack scores a point. If more than one bowl is closer than the opponent's nearest bowl, the player or team scores that many points.

A match ends when a player reaches 21 points or after a fixed number of ends. If neither player nor team reaches 21 points, the side leading after 18 or 21 ends is declared the winner.

The disciplines in lawn bowls are: Singles, Pairs, Triples, and Fours.

The Commonwealth Games also include Para Bowls events for athletes with physical and visual impairments.

India's squad for Glasgow 2026

Women: Nayanmoni Saikia – Singles, Rupa Rani Tirkey (lead) and Pinki (skip) – Pairs

Men: Putul Sonowal – Singles, Navneet Singh (lead) and Dinesh Kumar (skip) – Pairs

India's Commonwealth Games record in lawn bowls

India has competed in lawn bowls at the Commonwealth Games since the 2010 edition in New Delhi. The Indian women's triples team came closest to winning a medal at their home Games but finished fourth after losing both the semi-final and bronze medal match.

At Glasgow 2014, the men's fours team also finished fourth after narrowly missing out on a medal. Three Indian teams reached the quarter-finals at Gold Coast 2018, but none progressed to the semi-finals.

India's breakthrough came at Birmingham 2022.

The women's fours team of Lovely Choubey, Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey won India's first-ever Commonwealth Games lawn bowls medal by defeating South Africa 17-10 in the final.

The men's fours team of Sunil Bahadur, Navneet Singh, Chandan Kumar Singh and Dinesh Kumar also created history by winning India's first men's Commonwealth Games lawn bowls medal, finishing with silver after reaching the final.

Current form

Heading into Glasgow 2026, India carries confidence from a successful campaign at the 17th Senior Asian Lawn Bowls Championships in New Delhi.

Navneet Singh and Dinesh Kumar won the men's pairs gold medal, while Putul Sonowal, Navneet Singh, Dinesh Kumar and Jayanta Sarmah combined to win the men's fours gold as India finished as the overall champions.

The women's squad includes Nayanmoni Saikia, Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki, all members of the historic Birmingham 2022 gold medal-winning team.

On the men's side, Navneet Singh, Dinesh Kumar and Putul Sonowal also head into Glasgow after winning gold medals at the Senior Asian Lawn Bowls Championships.

With experienced players returning, recent international success and the confidence gained from their historic breakthrough in Birmingham, India will look to continue its momentum and add to its Commonwealth Games medal tally in Glasgow.