Kamalkant Dixit at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Thursday.

New Delhi, Oct. 7: Lured by a ticket to watch boxing, a 50-year-old temple priest landed at a lawn bowls event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium today and was flummoxed.

“Oh my God… I had come here to watch boxing. What are they playing?” asked the bewildered Kamalkant Dixit, a priest of a Shiva temple at Najafgarh in west Delhi. “A person known to me gave the ticket saying I would be able to watch boxing,” he added, looking cheated.

In dhoti-kurta with a gamchha wrapped around his head, Dixit sat in the middle of the almost empty stand. Besides him, there were eight Indians and 20 foreigners, mostly friends and family members of the players. The stand has a capacity of 1,300.

Dixit sat for nearly five minutes, then grew impatient. He walked up to a volunteer to try and figure out the sport in which India is represented by players from Jharkhand and Assam.

“Yeh football jaisa lag raha hai lekin isme haath ka istamal ho raha hai. Yeh khel ko kya kehte hain? (This looks like football, but here hands are being used. What is this game called?)” he asked.

“This is lawn bowls. It is very popular in foreign countries,” the volunteer replied, trying to explain the rules.

Dixit looked relieved when told Indians were also competing. So the volunteer took him to see Tania Chowdhury, 15, the youngest player in the competition. “Our team is very good and most of the players come from poor families in Ranchi and Assam. More people should come to encourage them,” he told the priest, who nodded in agreement.

Dixit appeared proud to see Tania, the face of the Indian squad. “She is so young and is playing against people who are double and triple her age,” he said.

The oldest competitor is a 73-year-old New Zealander.

“It is never too late to have a ball, especially if it’s in lawn bowls. The game does not require much physical labour and it is more about concentration,” said Jeremy from England, who was cheering his team from the stands.

Among the 17 disciplines of sports at the Commonwealth Games, lawn bowls is one of the core sports events and made its debut at the first Games in 1930. The game is popular in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

Dixit, who had appeared angry when he found out he wouldn’t get to see a boxing bout, ended up excited about the youths fighting the odds and playing their hearts out against foreign teams. “I did not understand much about the game. But I would pray that Indian teams win medals in this category so that young girls and boys can reap the benefits of their toil,” he said before walking out.