bowler vs participant

bowler and participant both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
bowler	Yes	No	No	No
participant	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, participant is a hypernym of bowler; that is, participant is a word with a broader meaning than bowler:

Other hypernyms of bowler include player.

bowler (noun)	participant (noun)
a felt hat that is round and hard with a narrow brim	someone who takes part in an activity
a player who rolls balls down an alley at pins	a person who participates in or is skilled at some game
a cricketer who delivers the ball to the batsman in cricket