Guwahati: In a cricket-crazy nation, Indians are rather oblivious to a niche sport called lawn bowls. But four women, Lovely Choubey, Rupa Rani Tirkey, Pinki and Nayanmoni Saikia, are grabbing headlines in Malaysia.
The quartet of Lovely, Rupa, Pinki and Nayanmoni combined to win the women’s fours gold medal at the 14th Asian Lawn Ball Championship in Malaysia to bring some much-needed attention to lawn bowls in India.
This is India’s second-ever medal in lawn bowls, a sport which has been a fixture in the CWG itinerary since 1930, barring the 1966 edition in Jamaica.
It needs to be mentioned that it’s a glory for the people of the Northeast and Assam that Nayan Moni Saikia have made history again.
Nayanmoni Saikia was born on September 21, 1988, in Assam’s Golaghat district and is the youngest among the Indian lawn bowls ‘Fab Four’. Her father was a farmer.
A student of the Golaghat Commerce College, Nayanmoni Saikia is currently employed as an officer at the Assam Forest Department since 2011. She got married to a local businessman in 2013 and has a daughter.
Nayanmoni Saikia too began her career in another sport – weightlifting. Adding to the glitter that Indian weightlifters have garnered in Birmingham, the Assam girl has contributed her own gold medal to the cause by helping the team win the women’s fours event.
A leg injury forced Nayanmoni Saikia to give up on weightlifting but she chanced upon lawn bowls in 2008.
She has previously won gold medals in the U-25 girls singles at the Asian Championships 2012 in Malaysia, women’s triples in the Asian championship 2017 in New Delhi, women’s singles and triples at the 2011 National Games in Ranchi and women’s singles and fours at the 2015 National Games in Kerala.
Birmingham 2022 was her third Commonwealth Games.
She was appointed as the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in September.