Lawn Bowl coach optimistic about India's chances

Tania had won silver in the Asia-Pacific Championship in August last year in Kuala Lumpur and then finished fourth in ladies triple section at the eight-nation tournament here in April, and thanks to her impressive showings, coach Richard Gale is banking heavily on the girl from Guwahati to get India a medal.

"She (Tania) is already a very good player but she will be much better in future. She's definitely a medal prospect for India in the Commonwealth Games," said Richard. "She is very talented but her biggest strength is consistency. She will the upfront player for us," Richard added.

Tania, along with Pinky Kaushik and Manu Kumari Gogoi in women's section, and Sunil Bahadur, Mahip Tirkey and Mohd. Raja in men's are some of medal prospects for India and the bowlers, Richard said, are going about their task in earnest.

"We practice seven days a week, eight hours a day; three in morning and five hours under lights to get used to the conditions. I think the guys are playing very well at the moment," the Australian, who has been coaching the Indian team since December 2008, said.

"We were supposed to go to Australia earlier this year for a tournament but the players were denied visa as they (immigration officials) were not convinced about the players' financial capacity to support their stay in the country.

That's why we played an unofficial Test series in Auckland, New Zealand," Richard said. Under Richard, India won the 2009 Asian Lawn Bowl Championship in Shenzan, China besides the team's impressive performance in the Asia-Pacific Championships. Earlier this year in April, the Indian team finished fourth in ladies triple at the eight-nation meet.

Asked about the venue and training facilities, Richard said, "The green is coming off nicely and the building is nearing completion. It's been going very good at the moment."