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| |  Tuesday, 6 November, 2001, 10:29 GMT Bowls undergoes a makeover Indoor bowls gets hit by an explosion of colour Sudden death finishes, coloured balls and hi-tech scoring systems can all been seen this week as Indoor Bowls updates it's image. The BUPA Care Homes Open tournament, being held at Blackpool's Norbreck Castle, is the first televised competition to put these changes into practice. The changes are designed to increase television audiences. The competition runs until 11 November, and can be seen on BBC 2, in the afternoon, from 5 November. Nigel Oldfield, Chief Executive of the World Bowls Tour, told BBC Sport Online: "The sport has not really developed like other TV sports over the last 10 years.
"Despite having excellent viewing figures and an excellent following on BBC, we had to evolve and make the sport more exciting to watch," he said. For the first time in the world of bowls, the green is now blue, and the bowls are matched to the colours of the players' kit. There have also been a number of changes to the rules, aimed at making the game faster and more exciting to television viewers. "We wanted to change the format - make it faster, sharper, more dynamic, and within a shorter time frame, including sudden death finishes," Oldfield added. This week will be the first time the new rules are put into practice. Players will now play just two sets of seven ends, instead of the usual three or five sets, in an attempt to speed up the game. However, the change that is causing the most excitement, is the sudden death tiebreaker. If, at the end of the match, the players are equal, opponents play just one end and the winner wins the match.
"There are the purists who don't think we should change the game, but in no way are we changing the skill of the game. "We're just enhancing the presentation and drama, like football did when they introduced the backpass rule," Oldfield added. Barbara Slater, Head of General Sport at the BBC, shares Oldfield's enthusiasm. "I think it will give the game fresh impetus. It's great that a sport is prepared to evolve and change the rules. I think they should be applauded for that," she said. "The brighter bolder colours are in keeping with more modern sports, and that can only help break down the stereotypical image that surrounds indoor bowls." | |
See also:  11 Jan 02 | Funny Old Game Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Other Sports stories now: Links to more Other Sports stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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