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For lawn bowls’ players, age is just a number
A couple of over-60 lawn ball players from the Falkland Islands are set to defy age and gun for a medal at this year's Delhi Commonwealth Games.
A couple of over-60 lawn ball players from the Falkland Islands are set to defy age and gun for a medal at this year's Delhi Commonwealth Games.
69-year-old George Paice and 73-year-old Gerald Reive will be among the oldest to compete in the October 3 to 14 extravaganza which has been hit by several star pullouts.
"I never thought, at 73, I would be an athlete," Reive was quoted as saying by the 'New Zealand Herald'.
"When they first brought the idea a couple of years ago, I was flabbergasted. It was a bit of a surprise to be quite honest. But then we thought: 'Oh yeah, let's give it a go'," he added.
"I never thought that we would ever be doing something like this. Going together makes it even better. I am coming back as an international," said Paice.
The long time friends moved to New Zealand in the 1960s.
Paice said he was not too sure about competing in Delhi and did not discuss the plan with too many people.
"I did not want to make a song and dance about it because I thought it might not happen. So I didn't tell anyone.
“But then four or five months ago things took off and the trip was on.
"I asked my friend Reive to come with me because he is a former Falklander too," Paice said. "Gerald was keen to take his wife Shirley, so he asked the trip organiser Michael Summers if she could come along.
He said that every team needs a manager, so she got the job. "She has had an enormous amount of work to do, the paperwork has been colossal. We leave in two weeks."
