Malaysia delivers first gold

9th December, Bangkok: Malaysia delivered her first gold medal when Esther Cheah and debutant, Zatil Iman hung on to their lead to emerge champion in the Women's Doubles event of the 24th SEA Games Bowling Championship.  At the start of the women's doubles event Sunday afternoon, Malaysia's first pair of Siti Safiyah Amirah and singles bronze medalist, Shalin Zulkifli set the pace with a 418 opening game to lead their fellow teammates and second pair of Esther Cheah and Zatil Iman by 18 pins.

An stunning 456 in the second game from Esther and Zatil saw the pair leaping to the front with Indonesia's Shalima Zalsha and Sharon Limansantoso putting their challenge to trail by 55 pins as Siti suffered a set back of 140 to drop out of the top 5.

Esther and Zaitl kept a strong pace with 411, 389 and 392 to lead up to the fifth game but face an even stronger challenge from Thailand's duo of Saowapha Kunaksorn and Angkan Netvriseth with a mere 1 pin advantage.

Fortunately, the leading pair kept their composure to end the 6-game event with 401 to break the ice and secure Malaysia's first gold medal with a total of 2438. The Thais settled for the silver with 2387, 51 pins adrift.

A superb 469 in the fifth game from Siti Safiyah and Shalin allowed them to crawl up into third and a 371 in their final game was good enough for the pair to clinch the bronze medal with 2322.

Singapore's best finisher was Jasmine Yeong-Nathan and Amanda Ng taking up seventh position with 2255 while Cherie Tan-Jazreel Tan and Jennifer Tan-Evelyn Chan ended up a tenth and 11th place.

After two events, two silver medalist, Angkana Netvriseth of Thailand is way ahead in the All Events standings with 2468, 103 pins clear of Siti Safiyah and Zatil Iman of Malaysia in second and third with 2365 and 2352.

Detailed scores: Women's Doubles | Photo Album.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.