A second bronze for Singapore boys

A second bronze for Singapore boys

21st July, Orlando: Mark Wong and Gregory Gan capped a second bronze medal for Singapore in the Boy's Doubles event of the 10th World Youth Championship at Boardwalk Bowl on Monday. Mark Wong and Gregory Gan were simply superb as the pair chalked up 440, 510, 457, 424, 411 and 446 to top the second doubles squad with a total of 2688. Gan shot 1291 while Wong was outstanding knocking down 1397.

But the Singaporeans were 127 pins behind Squad A and overall leaders, Matt Hann and Singles gold medalist, Dominic Barrett of England on 2790 and Sweden's Kim Bolleby and James Gruffman in second with 2735.

At the semi-finals against second-seed, Sweden, both Wong and Gan must have shown signs of tension and pressure as Gan sho 194 and Wong suffered a 172 to give the pair 366. Their opponent took the match with 414.   The Swedes went on to capture their first gold of the championship when they defeated favourites, England, 417-399 in the title match. The English duo knocked out Iceland's Robert Dan Sigurdsson and Harthor Hardarson, 438-423 in the other semi.

The other Singapore pair of Benjamin Lim and Eugene Low finished 24th behind their team-mates and 43rd overall on 2395. Wong's 1397 in the doubles has moved the youngster up to eighth in the All Events standings.

Barrett is dominating the field with a 2823 total for 12 games, an average of better than 235. The next closest competitor is Fredrik Thjernes of Norway, who has 2657. Fellow Norwegian Mads Sandbaekken is third with 2648.   The top 16 players in all-events after the conclusion of singles, doubles and team will advance to the Masters competition on Thursday.

Action at the World Youth Championships next shifts to boys and girls four-player team events, which begins at 8.00am. Eastern on Tuesday. Each team will bowl three games on Monday and complete the six-game set on Wednesday.

Detailed scores: Boy's Semi & Finals | Boy's Doubles Combined | Boy's Doubles Squad B | Boy's Doubles Squad A. Photos courtesy of B.C. Cheah, MTBC and Bowl.com.