Kolkata: India’s schedule at the Commonwealth Games 2026 today, July 23, features two bowls ties.
The two matches will also be the Indian contingent’s opening assignments at Glasgow 2026, with the quadrennial meet only officially kicking off later in the day with the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.
Olympic medallists Mirabai Chanu and Lovlina Borgohain will lead India at the opening ceremony as flag bearer and baton bearer, respectively.
In men’s singles bowls, Putul Sonowal, ranked 21st in the world, headlines the day with a testing sectional-play assignment against Canada’s Ryan Bester at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).
A World Bowls Hall of Famer and the reigning men’s singles world champion, Bester will turn out for Canada for a seventh consecutive time at the Commonwealth Games.
Also early on Thursday, the Indian women’s pairs duo of Pinki Singh (skip) and Rupa Rani Tirkey (lead) respectively, begin their sectional-play campaign against Malta’s Connie Rixon and Rebecca Rixon.
Glasgow 2026 also marks a first that bowls – both the able-bodied and para variants – is being contested indoors at the Commonwealth Games, with four portable rinks laid inside the SEC Centre to conduct the sport.
It is a shift from lawn bowls – played on outdoor greens – which saw India collect a gold medal and a silver at Birmingham 2022.
Pinki Singh and Rupa Rani Tirkey were part of the Indian women’s fours team which won gold four years back.
However, the essence of the game – rolling the bowls closer than the opposition to the jack, the small white target ball – stays the same.
Both ties fall in the sectional group stage and no medals will be on the line today.
At Birmingham 2022, India’s bowlers delivered a historic double: the women’s fours team of Lovely Choubey, Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey won gold, beating South Africa 17-10 in the final, while the men’s fours side took silver. Those were India’s first-ever Commonwealth Games medals in the sport. Four years on, as the Games return in a smaller format in Glasgow, lawn bowls is again being spoken of as one of India’s better bets for a podium finish.
Commonwealth Games 2026 India schedule today: July 23
All in Indian Standard Time (IST)
Lawn Bowls
Women’s pairs sectional play: Pinki Singh & Rupa Rani Tirkey (IND) vs Connie Rixon & Rebecca Rixon (MLT) – 4:50 PM
Men’s singles sectional play: Putul Sonowal (IND) vs Ryan Bester (CAN) – 6:15 PM
CWG 2026 Opening Ceremony time –
Opening Ceremony: Indian athletes – 12:30 AM (July 24).
