Team England has today confirmed its 15 lawn bowls players for this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

The announcement confirms the return of five of England’s medallists from Delhi 2010 alongside a host of Commonwealth Games debutants.

Women’s singles champion Natalie Melmore returns to defend her title while Ellen Falkner will be on hand to try and retain her women’s pairs crown.

Men’s pairs silver medallist Stuart Airey and women’s triples bronze medallists Sian Honnor and Jamie-Lea Winch all return to Team England four years on.

This year’s Games will also be a family affair for four of Team England’s athletes who are all based in Devon.

Natalie Melmore, 25 from Newton Abbot, who impressed on her Games debut when she won the women’s singles title against reigning World Champion Val Smith, is this year joined by her fiancée Jamie Chestney, 27, who won bronze at the 2012 World Championships in Adelaide, Australia.

25 year old Sam Tolchard, national singles champion of 2008, and his sister Sophie, 22, the nation’s indoor and outdoor junior and senior international champion, from Paignton are also Glasgow-bound.

The team in full is:

Name

Event

Training Base

Born/lived

Stuart Airey

Triples & Fours

Carlisle

Sunderland

Paul Brown

B6/B7/B8 triples

Aberdare, Wales

Bristol

Jamie Chestney

Triples & Fours

Newton Abbot

Kings Lynn

Ellen Falkner

Triples & Fours

Cambridge

Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

David Fisher

B6/B7/B8 triples

Colchester

Iserlohn, Germany

Doreen Flanders

B2/B3 mixed pair

Guildford

London

Sian Honnor

Triples & Fours

Worthing

Canterbury

Andrew Knapper

Pairs & Fours

Reading

Taplow, Buckinghamshire

Bob Love

B6/B7/B8 triples

Birmingham

Birmingham

John McGuinness

Triples & Fours

Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire

Londonderry, N. Ireand

Natalie Melmore

Singles & Pairs

Newton Abbot

Torquay

Moira Sheehan*

B2/B3 mixed pair

Nottingham

Nottingham

Steven Simmons     

B2/B3 mixed pair

London

London

Jeffrey Smith*

B2/B3 mixed pair

 

Sawley

Sam Tolchard

Singles & Pairs

Paignton

Torquay

Sophie Tolchard

Triples & Fours

Paignton

Torquay

Jamie-Lea Winch

Pairs & Fours

Rugby

Northampton

*Directors