The men’s lawn bowls fours team continued India’s impressive run in the event. Following on from the women’s fours team winning gold, the men found silver in tonight’s final. After their nerve-wracking semi-final against England- sealed in the final end- the Indians were handed a crushing 18-5 defeat by a superior Northern Ireland quartet. The Indians were behind from the get-go, trailing their opponents by a 7-0 margin after four ends. Never quite recovering from the initial setback, Sunil Bahadur and Co. would limp through the remainder of the tie.

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Regardless, the Ranchi-born lead can be proud of his team’s achievement. An experienced hand, he has been to three prior Commonwealth Games: pairs event in 2010 Games, the singles and triples events in Glasgow 2014, and triples and fours in 2018. Having missed out on a medal at Gold Coast, the silver at Birmingham will be a sweet reward for the patience and pain of the intervening years. The 45-year-old also competed at the World Bowls Championship in New Zealand in 2016. He had qualified for the main rounds four years later, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced event organizers to cancel the World Championships, to be held at Broadbeach Bowls in Gold Coast.

In Birmingham, Bahadur and team kicked off with a narrow 14-11 win against Fiji, followed by a comprehensive 20-10 victory against the Cook Islands. Losing to England 20-11 in their Section C clash, India would see off Canada 10-14 in the quarters. Exacting a measure of revenge over the English quartet, the Indians knocked dumped them out of gold-medal contention.

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Bahadur has twice endured heartbreak at Northern Irish hands in Birmingham’s Victoria Park. In the men’s pairs, Bahadur and Dinesh Kumar were given a 26-8 thrashing in the quarter-finals. With his Games all but over, the veteran bowls-man can afford to soak in some Brummie cheer in the Games village.