Putul Sonowal Wins India’s First Medal at World Bowls Champion of Champions
Putul Sonowal Wins India’s First Medal at the World Bowls Champion of Champions
Putul Sonowal won bronze in the men’s singles at the World Bowls Champion of Champions in Barham, New South Wales, on Saturday, 10 October. It is India’s first medal at the event, which brings together the national singles champions of World Bowls member countries.
The 2026 edition ran from 6 to 10 October at cluBarham, with 32 men and 26 women from 34 nations. Players first compete in sections, and the best move into the knockout rounds. Reaching the semi-finals guaranteed a medal. A semi-final loss meant bronze.
Putul Sonowal Secures Bronze After Reaching Semi-Finals
Sonowal, 43, topped his section with six wins from seven matches. The last was a 5-0 win over Botswana’s Edwin Nyoka Jnr on Friday. He then beat Singapore’s Harriman Yuen in a close quarter-final to secure the medal. On Saturday, he lost the semi-final in straight sets, 5-8 and 4-8, to Scotland’s Iain McLean, the top seed and world number three.
Last year, Sonowal lost in the quarter-finals to Fiji’s Rajnesh Prasad, who went on to win silver.
Sonowal’s Lawn Bowls Journey and India’s Progress in the Sport
Sonowal is a havildar in the Assam Police. He won the men’s singles at the Asian Lawn Bowls Championship this year. At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July he beat Canada’s Ryan Bester, the reigning world outdoor champion, in a tie-break in his first match. He did not win a medal there.
India’s other entrant in Barham, Bangita Hazarika, finished fourth in her women’s singles section with four wins from seven matches and did not reach the knockouts.
India won women’s fours gold in bowls at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. World Bowls is campaigning to get the sport into the 2032 Olympics. Bowling Federation of India president Ravi Bengani called Sonowal’s result a landmark moment for Indian lawn bowls.
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