The 56th South African National Championships of Lawn Bowls for the Disabled has come to an end after eight days of intensive play with Sandringham resident Desiree Levin coming out on top.
Levin reigned supreme in the women’s singles combined B5 to B8 categories and won gold for the sixth year in a row since 2014, although 2016 was declared null and void.
A permanently disabled but happy Levin said that her ambition if selected, is to improve on her International Bowls for the Disabled (IBD) World Championship accomplishment of two bronze medals in 2015. This was in Ladies Singles and Mixed Pairs where she partnered with Wimpie Viljoen in the B8 category. Levin was subsequently reclassified as B6.
Levin hopes to be selected for the next IBD World Championships to be held in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2020.
Bowls for the disabled has stood the test of time since 1964 and it seems to grow every year. Until very recently, the men’s section has grown more than the women’s but they have now started coming to the fore again.
Levin said, “We do not wish to only enlist newly disabled people. We appeal to those already disabled to play this wonderful game which is adaptable to all sorts of people. In 2019, the sport saw six new members being classified.”
Levin said the aim of the nationals is to bring together and expose seeds of hope and encouragement to newly acquired bowlers as well as to pit the best against each other.
In the women’s pairs, Julie Deferville from Plettenberg Bay sponsored by an organisation called Differently Abled People, and her partner, Vicky van der Merwe from Newcastle, won gold.
“The two ladies had never met each other and when teamed up together they never entertained the thought of victory. Together they exposed one of the most important aspects of team work – compatibility. The gelling of their personalities and abilities plus a lot of determination resulted in their successful accomplishment of Gold,” Levin said.
Levin, together with her newly acquired partner Versha Rowjee from Midstream BGN, played against Deferville and Van der Merwe before succumbing to their excellent bowling in a battle of perseverance.
Levin and Rowjee were in the lead by four shots with one end to go but the determined pair of Deferville and Van der Merwe picked up a five in the last end of the match to secure the gold medal.
Then Levin and Rowjee had another difficult task ahead to play Protea bowler Jill Pearson from Sables, who was also teamed up with a newly acquired bowler, Louise Evans from Roosevelt Park.
This was another very exciting match but Pearson and Evans played an outstanding performance and proved too good for Levin and her partner Rowjee who then settled for a bronze medal.
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