Story: Bowls, pétanque and tenpin

Seti Mailei (left), his son Andrew, and Georgio Vakauta train in Victoria Park, Auckland, in 2003. The three were successful that year, winning the national championships in the triples. Vakauta had the distinction of winning the national singles championships six times by 2012. Pétanque has French origins, and spread to French colonies such as Tahiti, where Seti Mailei and Georgio Vakauta grew up and learned to play.