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Female athletes from around the Gulf are set to compete in the GCC Women’s Games next month and bowler Nadia Al Awadhi aims to knock over the competition as well as inspire other Bahraini women to take up the sport.
The 36-year-old mother of two boys had recently won a gold medal as the Women’s Masters Champion in the Arab Bowling Championship in Egypt earlier this year as well as silver in the Women’s Doubles and a bronze in the Women’s Team event alongside her Bahrain national teammates Noora Sultan, Reem Sultan and Layla Janahi.
Since then, they have upped their training sessions each week with team coach Khalifa Khalfan, a veteran national squad bowler, in preparation for the sixth edition of the Games which will be held in Kuwait from October 20-30 featuring 10 competitions.
“The GCC Women’s Games consists of a number of different sports, not only bowling, so every medal won will increase the overall tally for Bahrain and it would mean the world to our team to be able to successfully contribute towards Bahrain emerging the overall Champions at this event,” said Al Awadhi who work as an in-house legal and regulatory lawyer in the field of telecommunications. “We have five gold’s and just as many silver and bronze medals up for grabs during the course of the competition so we will give it our best shot!
“We have been given an idea of the type of oiling pattern which will be used during the tournament so our practice sessions consist of trying to ensure consistency in our shots during the games and also to be able adapt to any changes in lane behaviour as the games go on.”
Al Awadhi has been bowling since she was seven at BAPCO Club in Awali during the Friday morning children’s league. Her parents were active bowlers at the time and she grew up in a bowling community. Her husband Naser Hasan also bowls and her sons Sami, 11, and Rayaan, six, are also developing their love for the 10-pin target sport.
“My love of bowling just developed from there,” she said. “Bowling inspires me to continuously try to better myself and I love the thrill of competition. It is also a lot more complex than it may appear at first glance and requires dedication, training and constant technical improvement and practice in order to achieve results.”
Al Awadhi started playing for the national team when she was 14 and first competed at the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Egypt in 1997. The QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, formerly known as the International Masters and AMF Bowling World Cup, is an annual championship sponsored by QubicaAMF Worldwide and the largest in bowling in terms of number of participating nations.
Al Awadhi has participated in numerous championships and tournaments over the past 20 years, nabbing a number of gold medals in regional competitions during this time.
“My best international performances to date would have to be winning nine gold medals in 2015 at both the Arab Bowling Championship and GCC Bowling Championship combined and also placing 5th in the AMF World Cup held in Slovenia in 2005.”
Aside from trying to get three to four days a week of training, Al Awadhi also hits the gym regularly to maintain her strength and conditioning required for the sport.
She hopes to inspire other Bahraini women and girls to join the sport and try something new to continue to grow the sport of bowling in the kingdom.
She said: “We are hoping to get more Bahraini girls interested in joining the sport especially as the other GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, are developing solid teams with a good standard of players.” As for her bowling dreams, she hopes to be successful in the sport. not only within the region, but also to progress further on to the international stage one day.
