BOCCE: The bocce competition began yesterday at the RDS, Simmonscourt. St Kitts and Nevis, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and four of the USA delegations recorded victories in the unified doubles.

Bocce is similar in form to lawn bowls. However, unlike bowls the balls are not weighted so they roll straight.

A total of 250 athletes are taking part in bocce this week in the RDS Simmonscourt arena from places as diverse as the Bahamas and Singapore.

Dorothy Roberts, coach for the Bahamas bocce team, is at her fourth World Games and describes them as the best so far.

"It is very well organised, although transportation was better in North Carolina [1999 Games]. There is only one bus for us so if we are finished early we have to wait three or four hours.

"The fireworks at the opening ceremony were incredible - we could feel the heat from them. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

"Today is my first time inside the arena and it is just fantastic. The team noticed the balls were slightly lighter but they did very well," she said.

Head coach for the US south-east bocce delegation Kevin Enright experienced an up and down day as his team of Bill Pegroat and Karen Carter lost to Liechtenstein before defeating their fellow American team, from the north-central delegation, in their second match of the afternoon session 12-5.

Due to several different governing bodies within the sport, the Special Olympics Rules Committee has made itself the governing body for the Games. The rules they adopted are from the 1992 rules and regulations for competitive bocce from the International Bocce Association, Utica, New York.

The artificial surface used is 12 ft. wide by 60 ft. long and is surrounded by a timber frame. Using eight balls and a pallina, the idea is to get the balls closest to the pallina with the first to score 12 points the winner.

Many of the officials at the bocce contests are representatives from the Bowling League of Ireland.