Singaporean wins Masters by a whisker

13th December, Bangkok: Trios gold medalist, Remy Ong of Singapore won the Men's Masters gold medal of the 24th SEA Games Bowling Championship by a whisker after he edged top-seed, Ryan Lalisang of Indonesia, 441-440 in the stepladder finals.  Remy Ong, who had made the cut for the stepladder shootout after finishing second in the second block masters finals with a total of 3329 ahead of Zulmazran Zulkifli of Malaysia but trailed Indonesia's Ryan Lalisang, who amassed 3358.

In the first stepladder roll-off, Ong cruised to a comfortable victory over Zulmazran as the Malaysian had four splits to end in a lowly 159 while Ong himself also had a split in the sixth frame but recovered with a double in the 9th and 10th frames to take the match with 194.

In the match between Lalisang and Ong, the top-seed set a blistering pace with a turkey to take a 19 pins headstart but the Singaporean fired 4 strikes in a row to overtake Lalisang after the seventh frame.

Another double in the 9th and 10th frame gave Ong the win, 237-227 in the first match. The Indonesian was equally impressive winning the secong match, 213-204. But Ong's two-game total of 441 gave him the victory over Lalisang by the narrowest of margin 1 pin.

In the women's division, Sharon Limansantoso edged top-seed and triple gold medalist, Esther Cheah, 187-167 in the first game to build up a 20 pins margin. The champion went on to outclasse the Malaysian, 241-198 for a sweet victory with 427-365 total.

The victory made up for the disappointment suffered by the Indonesian women after loosing the Team of 5 event to the Malaysian team despite having a great start to winning the opening Singles gold medal by Tannya Roumimper on Day 1.

Limansantoso, who was seeded third after the second block Masters finals played earlier, eliminated second-seed and singles gold medalist, Tannya in the all-Indonesian first stepladder match, 206-190 to earn a crack at the title.

Singapore's Jennifer Tan missed the cut for the stepladder finals finishing fourth, just 16 pins from the eventual champion, Limansantoso while Jasmine Yeong-Nathan finished a creditable 8th.

Detailed scores: Women's Stepladder | Women's 2ndBlk Masters | Men's Stepladder | Men's 2ndBlk Masters | Photo Album.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.