The Australian Government and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) announced last week that bowls, along with netball and squash, would receive a slice of a AUD$17 million (£9.6 million/$11.5 million/€10.9 million) investment.

Bowls was the biggest winner, receiving a 59 per cent increase in funding to AUD$5.6 million (£3.1 million/$3.8 million/€3.6 million).

It includes funding for an enhanced Para programme that will assist the "Right at Home Para Jackaroos" in their quest to improve on their performance at Birmingham 2022 where the team won two silver medals and a fourth place.

The Jackaroos' performance as a whole last year was the most successful in an overseas Commonwealth Games and second most fruitful overall, as Australia topped the sport's medal tally by amassing three golds and a trio of silvers.

Victoria 2026 will see bowls head to Bendigo for another home Games, with the previous two at Melbourne 2006 and Gold Coast 2018 combining for 12 medals, including eight gold.

"The Commonwealth Games is the pinnacle multi-sport benchmark event for the sport of bowls and provides the platform for the Australian open and Para Jackaroos to compete on the global stage alongside athletes from a wide scope of sports, backgrounds and beliefs, while more broadly providing bowls with an enormous opportunity for mainstream exposure and awareness," Bowls Australia chief executive Matthew Kennedy said.

"In recent years, the Jackaroos have celebrated considerable success at the Games, including the Jackaroos' best ever performance at a Games in 2018, with five gold and two silver medals from ten disciplines, and their best performance abroad in Birmingham in 2022, so this funding commitment from the AIS will go a long way."