Bowl me over

WHEN LAWN BOWLS was introduced to Hong Kong in the 1900s, it was an elite pursuit played by expatriates in exclusive clubs. Yet almost a decade after the city's return to Chinese rule, the colonial pastime often associated with lazy summer days and tall glasses of Pimm's is being embraced by locals.

'Even 20 years ago, all players were expats,' says Claudius Lam Chi-kin, a vice-president of the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association. 'But gradually, as we got public greens, it became more localised.'

These days, the Hong Kong team is made up almost entirely of Chinese players, and two of the sport's rising stars are locals. Expatriates still play, of course, but in small numbers.

Lam says the standard of play has dropped a little since Hong Kong competed at the Commonwealth Games and the World Bowls Championship in the 1970s and 80s. But the sport has become entrenched in the population with more than 25 registered clubs in the city. Now, about 3,000 play in competitions on weekends, sometimes dressed in traditional whites.

'It used to be known as a game for wealthy people, but actually anyone can play,' says Noori Razack, who has been coaching the sport for 26 years. Classes can cost as little as $54 for eight sessions, although 80-year-old Razack charges $150 for the same number. Wearing a white beret and sunglasses, he is drilling four beginners in 32-degree heat at the bowling greens in Victoria Park. Razack calls out instructions to his younger students, all retirees, as they take their turn. 'Too wide,' he tells one novice as a ball veers too far to the right.

The sport has kept him in good health, Razack says. 'It's a thinking person's game. It takes concentration ... if you've had a bad day at work, or a fight with your wife, you can't bring it out with you or you won't play well.'