Lovely Choubey in action during her semi-final match in Ranchi on Wednesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Aug. 3: It was two for joy for Jharkhand’s lawn bowl players on the second day of the national championship at Namkum here with twin final berths in the host kitty.

The charge at gold medals at RK Anand Bowls Green was led by Lovely Choubey, who beat Nayanmoni Saikia of Assam to enter the final in women’s singles. In the women’s fours too, the Jharkhand team stormed into the final by defeating Arunachal 21-9.

In the men’s singles semi-final, Jharkhand’s Sunil Bahadur is leading 18-8 against his Delhi opponent.

There are a total of eight gold medals at stake (four for women and four for men). The host is already assured of three medals, gold or silver.

Playing the first semis, Lovely took a sweet revenge on Nayanmoni, beating her 21-6. The state player had lost to the Assamese bowl champ in the final of women’s singles at the 34th National Games.

On her way to the semi-final, Lovely had also defeated Sumitra Kumari of Rajasthan (21-1) and Nirjumoni Deuri of Meghalaya (21-8), maintaining her fine form.

Incidentally, the Jharkhand women’s fours team had finished fourth at the Games held in February and had to be content with a bronze. In that team Nutan Minz had played in place of Arzoo Rani.

The present team comprising Arzoo, Rupa Rani Tirkey, Savita Kumari and Farzana Khan has reached the final defeating Arunachal comfortably 21-9.

Today, Nutan Minz filed a case, saying Jharkhand Lawn Bowling Association secretary Madhu Kant Pathak was biased against her.

Denying the allegations, Pathak said: “So far, the level of the tournament has been of high standard. We are happy our girls are doing well. I have also noticed marked improvement in players from other states, like Delhi and Rajasthan.”

The finals of women’s singles, men’s singles and women’s fours will be played tomorrow morning.