By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

ZAMBIAN bowlers yesterday enjoyed a day of rest after both the men and women teams were on bye at the ongoing Africa States Bowl (ASB) tournament in Lusaka.
However, the local bowlers kept a close eye on the South Africans as they exerted themselves as the powerhouse on the continent.
In the four categories completed yesterday, South Africa took three golds, with the only other gold they missed going to the Zambian women pairs team of Foster Banda and Matimba Like.
The South Africans still took silver following their loss to the Zambian duo while Kenya won bronze after finishing on four points, same as Botswana but edged the Tswanas on shots count.
The other three categories were the women triples where South Africa finished with a maximum 10 points after winning all their five games with Botswana taking silver and Zimbabwe bronze with eight and six points, respectively, while Zambia was in distant fifth.
For the men, South Africa were winners in both singles and fours (rinks) categories where they picked 10 points in each category.
Zimbabwe got silver after finishing on eight points in both categories while the bronze medals were shared by Botswana in the singles and Namibia in the rinks.
Despite Zimbabwe and Botswana tying on eight points in the singles, the Zimbabweans’ count of shots stood out.
For the Zambian men, they finished in fourth with six points in the singles where Harry Musonda is the envoy and then fifth on four points in the rinks.
Of the 12 medals on offer in the four categories played, Zambia only has one – a gold by the women pairs.
This state of affairs has left the technical bench with no option but to ring the changes in the line-ups in the four remaining categories starting today to have a chance of finishing overall on the podium.
Today, Zambia plays South Africa in the morning and then Namibia in the afternoon.
The Zambian women will feature in the singles and rinks while the men go into the pairs and triples.