In their inventive progression in developing sports in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka’s first Sports website Srilankasports.com together with  the Nation Forum of Women with Disabilities (NFWD) intend organizing an age group Bocce Championship on Sunday 19th January at the Bandaragama Sports Complex with the participation of disabled children.

Bocce, is an Italian bowling game, similar to bowls and boules. Bocce is especially popular in Piedmont and Liguria and is also played in Italian communities in the United States, Australia, and South America. The governing organization is the Federazione Italiana Bocce.

The first world championships were held at Genoa, Italy, in 1951. Many sports at the Paralympics have an Olympic cousin. There are only two without counterparts, one of which is bocce. Bocce has been in the Paralympics since 1984 and has grown in popularity rapidly since then.

The technical support for the event will be provide by Sri Lanka Sports.com Academy for Special needs headed by Nilupa Ediriweera and Dharshana Aththanayake. . The Child Fund-Sri Lanka has joined as the financial partner for this inaugural event.

Approximately 50 athletes will be taking part in the Sri LankaSports.com Bocce Championship. They will be competing in under 20 boys and girls, Under 18 boys and girls and under 16 boys and girls categories with individual, double and mixed doubles.

This event will create an opportunity for the Children with disabilities to showcase their talents in sports and as well as to change the attitudes of social stigma. . The event will also aspire to cultivate and care for the special needs of those children who are underprivileged with their physical movements by organising recreational and community development activities among them.

www.SriLankaSports.com was inaugurated in the year 2000 pioneering a dynamic approach to sports reporting by exploring the avenues in cyber space to create a digital presence to Sri Lanka sports associations and athletes for a global following.

Eventually, the team in their endeavours to promote and develop sports in Sri Lanka diversified their activities into organising various sports events of which some became annual fixtures in the pre-Covid era. Inter-company Netball Championship introduced a seven-a-side format playing for Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield in a 7-1-7 minute match duration since it’s inaugural championship in 2006. Sri Lanka’s first Under-19 school Futsal event, the Sri LankaSports.com Futsal Challenge, Sri Lanka’s first day-night inter-club beach football tournament, first-ever Under-15 Inter-School Handball Championship are some under their belt.

Half-centuries from Saud Shakeel and Mohammed Rizwan wrestled momentum back for Pakistan after Jayden Seales’ triple-strike had put West Indies in the box seat in Multan. On a surface tailor-made for spin, it was the fast bowler who proved the pick of the bunch, exploiting pace and slight seam movement to send debutant Mohammad Hurraira, Kamran Ghulam and Babar Azam back for single figures. Pakistan had, at that point, been reduced to 46 for 4, with West Indies looming ominously over the tail. But a gritty unbeaten 97-run rearguard for the fifth wicket, from Rizwan and Shakeel, thwarted the visitors for the rest of the day, to ensure Pakistan would end the day with a semblance of control.

After the start was delayed by four hours owing to heavy fog that enveloped the ground, Pakistan won the toss and batted first in hazy conditions with the floodlights on throughout the course of the day. Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie bowled the first ball, an indication of how both sides perceived the pitch upon which each played three specialist spinners. Motie got rid of Pakistan captain Shan Masood early on, squeezing him down to the debutant wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach on the on side, but for the rest of the hour, it was Seales’ show.

He had been sniffing right from the outset, and got his reward when Hurraira hung his bat out and edged to the keeper. It was followed up by a beauty to remove Kamran Ghulam, who had just dispatched an outswinger to the boundary. The next ball, he attempted to shoulder arms but it seamed back into him wickedly, rapping the thigh, with Hawk-Eye showing it would have clipped the top of off.

The big fish came soon after, another glorious use of the seam. Seales hit a hard length which Babar looked to parry into the off side, but it shaped away just enough to kiss the outside edge through to Imlach. Babar would review, but, like Ghulam, he would not be reprieved.

The innings threatened to fall apart at that point, but Saud Shakeel, seasoned on surfaces like these, restored some order to proceedings for Pakistan. The sting was taken out of the quicks and the spinners negotiated deftly, while Mohammad Rizwan at the other end kept his concentration levels up as West Indies continued to prowl.

There was a notable acceleration from the pair after tea, right from when Shakeel got to his knees and swept Kevin Sinclair for four. It was a shot that brought the pair bounty through the session, giving them a release shot as the ball began to rip. The next six overs produced seven boundaries with Rizwan the chief aggressor, brave enough to use his feet to spin and ensuring the strike kept ticking over.

There remained plenty for the visitors to get excited about. A number of balls beat the outside edge by a whisker, and Shakeel popped one up dangerously close to short midwicket just shy of a half-century. But when he got there, and Rizwan followed up soon after, the milestones were both well-deserved. By now, the light had been deteriorating consistently, and midway through Kraigg Brathwaite’s first over, the light-metre came out, and the players went off. By then, Pakistan were arguably the happier side, having been dragged by Rizwan and Shakeel towards a rather less perilous position than they found themselves in after the first hour.

Brief scores:
Pakistan 143 for 4 in 41.3 overs  (Saud Shakeel 56*, Mohamed Rizwan 51*; Jayden  Seales 3-21) vs West Indies

[Cricinfo]