JERSEY’S lady bowls players could miss the chance to defend their Atlantic Rim gold and silver medals in South Africa next year – because the Island’s bowls committee has deemed the area too dangerous for them.

The Jersey Bowls Association claims it does not want to put its female players at risk, even though the men’s squad will be going to the event in Johannesburg in May 2009.

Association president Margaret Le Marquand said it was decided by an almost unanimous verdict that the women’s team, who do not need to attend the competition to qualify for the World Bowls tournament in 2012, would decline the invitation to compete.

She said: ‘A lot of people have expressed concern about going to Johannesburg because of the political situation and the safety element. Various people who have been before said they found it very threatening and intimidating, and it was decided that for the players to have to be escorted to and from the games, and then to be confined in the hotel, did not seem very conducive.’