National Games
National Games 2025: Lawn bowls triumph breaks Bihar's gold medal drought
Trained on carpets, a trio of women bag gold at the triple lawn bowls in Uttarakhand on Saturday.
Bihar won a gold medal at the National Games for the first time in 25 years, clinching the women's triple lawn bowls gold in Uttarakhand on Saturday.
The trio of Payal, Khushboo Kumari, and Nikhath Khatoon combined to help Bihar edge past the team from West Bengal by a slender 15-14 margin in the gold medal match.
Earlier in the day, they had defeated Delhi 19-18 in the semi-finals to make their way into the gold medal match.
'Single goal'
"We played as one unit with a single goal and that propelled us to the gold medal," said Payal in a conversation with The Bridge.
While Payal works as a HR in a private sector bank, Khatoon is a post graduate student and Kumari – a graduate – who dedicates all her time to the sport.
The trio trains at Gulzarbagh Stadium in state capital Patna. They don't have a bowling green in the state but practice using mats and carpets to level up in the sport.
"We don't have a ground to practice (bowling green) but it will surely be made," asserted Payal and Kumari in unison.
Bihar were placed in Pool B of the women's lawn bowls competition. They had finished second in the group with two wins and a loss in three matches to qualify for the semi-finals.
Their only loss in the competition came against Jharkhand, who went down 3-25 to eventual silver medallists West Bengal in the semi-finals.
Lofty goals
Having won a historic gold medal for their state, the trio now hopes to make it to the Indian camp for the 2025 Asian Lawn Bowls Championships, which will be held later this year.
"We have the Asian Championships coming up soon and are hoping to break into the Indian team," said Payal, who is an U-25 bronze medallist in women's singles at the continental level.
Bihar has, so far, pocketed eight medals at the 2025 National Games, including the lawn bowls gold. The state has won a silver medal apiece in wushu, yogasana, rugby, lawn bowls, and archery.
Meanwhile, the three medals were bronze bagged in wushu, modern pentathlon, and lawn bowls.
