A poor start for Singapore

1st November, Ho Chi Minh City: Singapore got off to a poor start in their debut at the 3rd Asian Indoor Games 2009 as Naif Oqab retained the Singles title to win the first gold medal for UAE on Sunday. Asian Youth Games Masters gold medalist, Basil Low did not start well with his opening game of 178 but bounced back with 236, 247, 204 and 217 to stay in amongst the leading trio of Jang Dong Chul of Korea, Jassim Darwish of Kuwait and Naif Oqab of UAE.

But a disasterous final game of 183 dropped the 17-year-old youngster down to 11th in Squad A with 1265 as Jang took pole with 1496. The Korean got off to a flying start after he shot the tournament's first perfect 300 in his opening game.

Benjamin Lim, pacing Low in the same squad managed only 14th position with 1257. Jassim took second spot with 1358 ahead of Naif in third with 1346.   In the second squad, Mark Wong also had a slow start with 188 but rebounded with 210, 226, 227 and 224 in his next four games. Again Wong ended poorly with 181 to finish 10th. Lionel Lim took 18th position with 1172.

Yannaphon Lar-papharat and Surasak Manuwong dominated Squad B by occupying the top two spots with 1463 and 1397 respectively ahead of Filipino, Biboy Rivera third with 1386. The No. 8 seed, Naif Oqab went on to retain the Singles title he won two years ago at the Macau Indoor Games after he edged No. 6 seed and favourite, Choi Bok Eum, 222-219 to win the first gold medal for UAE.

The champion edged No. 4 seed Biboy Rivera of the Philippines, 219-194 in the first semifinals to advance into the finals while Choi trashed No. 7 seed, Jassim Darwish of Kuwait, 289-226 in the other semi.

Topseed, Jang Dong Chul of Korea was outclassed by the Emirati, 183-279 in the quarterfinals. Jassim edged No. 2 seed, Yannaphon Lar-papharat of Thailand, 218-216 in the second quarterfinal match.   Choi also trashed another Thai, Surasak Manuwong, 238-162 in the third quarterfinals while Rivera took out Japan's Yoshinao Masatoki, 205-194 in the fourth quarterfinal match.

The women will take to the lanes tomorrow for their Singles event in just one squad. The top 8 finishers will again advance into the knockout stage.

Detailed scores: Men's Singles Squad A | Men's Singles Squad B | Men's Singles Combined | Men's Singles Finals. Photos by Terence Yaw in Ho Chi Minh City.