Bowls is one of the sports at the quadrennial Commonwealth Games competition. It has been a Commonwealth Games sport since the inaugural edition of the event's precursor, the 1930 British Empire Games. It is a core sport and must be included in the sporting programme of each edition of the Games; however, it was not included in the programme of the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica due to no sufficient bowling greens being available. Along with swimming, athletics, cycling, table tennis, powerlifting and triathlon, bowls is one of the EAD (Elite Athletes with a Disability) sports. In 2026 for the first time the indoor version of the sport shall be held.

Editions

GamesYear Host cityHost countryBest Nation I 1930 Hamilton, Ontario II 1934 London III 1938 Sydney, New South Wales IV 1950 Auckland V 1954 Vancouver, British Columbia , VI 1958 Cardiff VII 1962 Perth, Western Australia IX 1970 Edinburgh X 1974 Christchurch XI 1978 Edmonton, Alberta XII 1982 Brisbane, Queensland XIII 1986 Edinburgh XIV 1990 Auckland XV 1994 Victoria, British Columbia XVI 1998 Kuala Lumpur XVII 2002 Manchester XVIII 2006 Melbourne, Victoria XIX 2010 Delhi XX 2014 Glasgow XXI 2018 Gold Coast, Queensland XXII 2022 Birmingham XXIII 2026 Glasgow

Commonwealth champions Commonwealth champions tabulated:

Men's singles

YearWinner 1930 Robert Colquhoun 1934 Robert Sprot 1938 Horace Harvey 1950 James "Ham" Pirret 1954 Ralph Hodges 1958 Phineas 'Pinky' Danilowitz 1962 David Bryant (1/4) 1970 David Bryant (2/4) 1974 David Bryant (3/4) 1978 David Bryant (4/4) 1982 Willie Wood

YearWinner 1986 Ian Dickison 1990 Rob Parrella 1994 Richard Corsie 1998 Roy Garden 2002 Bobby Donnelly 2006 Kelvin Kerkow 2010 Robert Weale 2014 Darren Burnett 2018 Aaron Wilson (1/2) 2022 Aaron Wilson (2/2) 2026 Sam Tolchard

Men's pairs

YearWinner 1930 Tommy Hills & George Wright (1/2) 1934 Tommy Hills & George Wright (2/2) 1938 Lance Macey & Walter Denison 1950 Robert Henry & Phil Exelby 1954 William Rosbotham & Percy Watson 1958 John Morris & Ted Pilkington 1962 Bob McDonald & Robbie Robson 1970 Norman King & Peter Line 1974 Jack Christie & Alex McIntosh 1978 Eric Liddell & Saco Delgado 1982 John Watson & David Gourlay Sr.

YearWinner 1986 Grant Knox & George Adrain 1990 Ian Schuback & Trevor Morris 1994 Rex Johnston & Cameron Curtis 1998 Brett Duprez & Mark Jacobsen 2002 Alex Marshall (1/3) & George Sneddon 2006 Alex Marshall (2/3) & Paul Foster (1/2) 2010 Shaun Addinall & Gerry Baker 2014 Alex Marshall (3/3) & Paul Foster (2/2) 2018 Daniel Salmon (1/2) & Marc Wyatt 2022 Daniel Salmon (2/2) & Jarrad Breen 2026 Gary Kelly & Adam McKeown

Men's triples

YearWinner 2006 Bill Cornehls, Mark Casey & Wayne Turley 2010 Johann du Plessis, Wayne Perry & Gidion Vermeulen 2014 Petrus Breitenbach, Prince Neluonde & Bobby Donnelly 2018 Darren Burnett, Derek Oliver & Ronnie Duncan 2022 Louis Ridout, Nick Brett & Jamie Chestney 2026 not held

Men's fours

YearWinner 1930 Ernie Gudgeon, James Edney, James Frith & Albert Hough 1934 Robert Slater, Ernie Gudgeon, Percy Tomlinson & Fred Biggin 1938 Bill Bremner, Alec Robertson, Ernie Jury & Bill Whittaker 1950 Herbert Currer, Harry Atkinson, Alfred Blumberg & Snowy Walker 1954 Frank Mitchell, George Wilson, John Anderson & Wilfred Randall 1958 Norman King, John Bettles, Walter Phillips & John Scadgell 1962 David Bryant, Les Watson, Sidney Drysdale & Tom Fleming 1970 Abdul Kitchell, Saco Delgado, George Souza Sr. & Roberto da Silva 1974 Kerry Clark, David Baldwin, John Somerville & Gordon Jolly 1978 Philip Chok, M B Hassan Jr., Omar Dallah & Roberto da Silva

YearWinner 1982 Rob Dobbins, Keith Poole, Bert Sharp & Don Sherman 1986 Hafod Thomas, Jim Morgan, Robert Weale & Will Thomas 1990 Denis Love, George Adrain, Ian Bruce & Willie Wood 1994 Alan Lofthouse, Donald Piketh, Neil Burkett & Robert Rayfield 1998 Gary McCloy, Ian McClure(1/2), Martin McHugh(1/2) & Neil Booth 2002 John Ottaway, Simon Skelton, Robert Newman & David Holt 2014 Alex Marshall (1/2), Paul Foster (1/2), Neil Speirs & David Peacock 2018 Alex Marshall (2/2), Paul Foster (2/2), Derek Oliver & Ronnie Duncan 2022 Sam Barkley, Adam McKeown, Ian McClure(2/2), Martin McHugh(2/2) 2026 not held

Women's singles

YearWinner 1986 Wendy Line 1990 Geua Vada Tau 1994 Margaret Johnston 1998 Lesley Hartwell 2002 Siti Zalina Ahmad (1/2) 2006 Siti Zalina Ahmad (2/2)

YearWinner 2010 Natalie Melmore 2014 Jo Edwards (1/2) 2018 Jo Edwards (2/2) 2022 Ellen Ryan 2026 Katherine Rednall

Women's pairs

YearWinner 1986 Margaret Johnston & Freda Elliott 1990 Judy Howat & Marie Watson 1994 Frances Whyte & Sarah Gourlay 1998 Margaret Letham & Joyce Lindores 2002 Jo Edwards & Sharon Sims 2006 Lynsey Armitage & Karen Murphy

YearWinner 2010 Ellen Falkner & Amy Monkhouse 2014 Tracy-Lee Botha & Colleen Piketh 2018 Emma Firyana Saroji & Siti Zalina Ahmad 2022 Kristina Krstic & Ellen Ryan 2026 Amy Pharaoh & Sian Honnor

Women's triples

YearWinner 1982 Flo Kennedy, Anna Bates & Margaret Mills 2006 Azlina Arshad, Nor Iryani Azmi & Nor Hashimah Ismail 2010 Tracy-Lee Botha, Susan Nel & Santjie Steyn 2014 Sophie Tolchard, Ellen Falkner & Sian Gordon (1/2) 2018 Carla Krizanic, Natasha Scott & Rebecca Van Asch 2022 Jamie-Lea Winch, Natalie Chestney & Sian Honnor (2/2) 2026 not held

Women's fours

YearWinner 1986 Linda Parker, Linda Evans, Joan Ricketts & Rita Jones 1990 Audrey Rutherford, Daphne Shaw, Dorothy Roche, Marion Stevens 1994 Anna Pretorius, Colleen Grondein, Hester Bekker (1/2), Lorna Trigwell (1/2) 1998 Loraine Victor, Trish Steyn, Hester Bekker (2/2), Lorna Trigwell (2/2)

YearWinner 2002 Ellen Alexander, Shirley Page, Gill Mitchell, Carol Duckworth 2014 Esme Steyn, Santjie Steyn, Tracy-Lee Botha, Susan Nel 2018 Carla Krizanic, Kelsey Cottrell, Natasha Scott, Rebecca Van Asch 2022 Rupa Rani Tirkey, Nayanmoni Saikia, Lovely Choubey, Pinki Singh 2026 not held

Para-sport

Men's blind singles YearWinner 1994 Robert Brand

Men's Pairs YearWinner 2022 Garry Brown and Kevin Wallace

Women's blind singles YearWinner 1994 Catherine Portas 2002 Ruth Small

Women's Pairs YearWinner 2022 Rosemary LentonPauline Wilson

Mixed Pairs YearWinner 2018 Jake Fehlberg, Lynne Seymour 2022 Melanie InnessRobert Barr

Open triples YearWinner 2002 David Heddie, Ivan Prior & John Robertson 2014 Deon Van De Vyver, Roger Hagerty & Lobban Derrick 2018 Josh Thornton, Ken Hanson & Tony Bonnell

Mixed fours B2 & B3 YearWinner 2014 Geoffrey Newcombe, Gyndolene Nel, Hermanus Scholtz & Annatjie van Rooyen

All-time overall medal table *Note: From editions 1994 to 2002, two bronze medals were awarded in each event. Updated after the 2026 Commonwealth Games

Lawn Bowls and Bowls All-Time Medal Table *Note : From editions 1994 to 2002, two bronze medals were awarded in each event. Updated after the 2026 Commonwealth Games

Para-Lawn Bowls and Bowls All-time medal table

Updated after the 2026 Commonwealth Games

See also World Bowls Events List of Commonwealth Games medallists in lawn bowls

References

External links

Commonwealth Games sport index