The state’s lawn bowlers during a training session at the hockey pitch in Petra Jaya recently.
KUCHING: The state lawn bowls shadow team will be undergoing a six-week training stint in Labuan on March 12, on the road to Sukma XVIII which Sarawak will host from July 22-31.
Head coach Siti Nadia Husna Saini said Labuan was chosen because its lawn bowls green was of the standard with the new green that is currently being constructed at the Sarawak Stadium Complex in Petra Jaya for the biennial games.
“I want our players to get acclimatised to the green conditions that will used for Sukma XVIII. We have no alternative but to train in Labuan as the new green is still under construction and expected to be completed soon,” she said.
“While in Labuan, we will be playing a friendly game with the Labuan team and we are also planning to invite national coach Zuraidi Puteh to help train our players.”
According to Nadia, the players are now temporarily training at the Sarawak Astroturf Hockey Stadium and the new hockey stadium in Petra Jaya.
She said the finalised squad of 12 players will be known by the latest in late April as more time is needed to assess the performance of the 19 players in the shadow team. “We will be selecting six men and six women bowlers after the training in Labuan,” she added.
Nadia said seven players have been retained from the previous Sukma XVII in Perlis and they are Nur Fithri Yaani Hamdin, Nur Fitrah Rosmadi, Nur Fitri Rosmadi, Sharifah Syaza Nirsina Mumtaz Wan Zamaludin, Nur Haninah Humaira Zaffrullah (women), Yusuf Aminuddin and Mohd Samsulaiman Yakub (men).
“We have targeted to win two gold medals in the women’s fours and men’s singles,” said Nadia.
Lawn bowls in Sukma offers eight gold medals. At the Perlis Sukma two years ago, lawn bowls contributed one gold and one bronze medals to the state medal haul.