International Lawn Bowls player Manisha Kumari, who had led the team that won the first International Gold Medal for Indian Lawn Bowls, has said that Gold in the Women's Four event of Birmingham Commonwealth Games is a significant achievement in the history of Lawn Bowls for the last 16 years and for Indian Lawn Bowls, this medal has won all the players and officials associated with Lawn Bowls made dreams come true. Manisha said that she was waiting for a Commonwealth medal for the last twelve years and God gave gold and told that the fruit of waiting is gold.
India's first Bronze Medal for Lawn Bowls at 13th Asia Pacific Bowls Championship, KualaLumpur (Malaysia) on 8-16 August 2009 and in 2009 itself at 8th Asian Lawn Bowls Championship, Shenzhen (China) on 4-9 December Manisha, who played the most important role as the lead of the Indian team that won its first gold medal for India, said that Birmingham's gold is very important but its foundation lay in Shenzhen and KualaLumpur.
Manisha said that the then Australian coach of the Indian lawn bowls team, Richard Gayle, also did not believe that the Indian team would win a medal before the match, but we won four international medals in both the tournaments with significant support from Farzana Khan, Roopa Rani Tirkey and Pinky, contributed to the win.
Today, where there are Indian stars with gold in their hands on the podium in Birmingham, the podiums of KualaLumpur and Shenzhen are in front of my eyes, the national anthem is played in the stadium and the tricolor rising to the sky is dancing in front of my eyes.
Manisha said that the way Nayanmani Saikia, Pinky and Lovely Choubey and Roopa Rani Tirkey of Jharkhand performed in Birmingham on the strength of team spirit, strong believe system, excellent technique and fighting spirit, they got the medal due to that. Birmingham will always be remembered for breaking African dreams and winning gold, especially after winning 16-13 in the semi-final against New Zealand and scoring 17-10 against South Africa. This achievement was also important because after participating in the Commonwealth Games for the fourth time after three consecutive failures, this medal was achieved and especially the experience of Indian player Roopa Rani Tirkey paid off. Manisha expressed confidence that with the gold received in Commonwealth, this core game of Commonwealth Games in India will get tremendous fame and there will be a long list of such medals in future.