A second gold for Singapore

A second gold for Singapore

5th December, Macau: Rising star, New Hui Fen gave Singapore its second gold medal of the 22nd Asian Intercity Tenpin Bowling Championship when she hung on to a 4-pins victory over Paranaque's Liza Clutario at the end of the second block Women's Masters finals. New Hui Fen, who led the first block of eight matches played on Thursday, continued to lead throughout the seven matches but found her lead drastically reduced by the 14th match to just 8 pins when Paranaque's Liza Clutario fired two massive matches in the 13th and 14th.

Despite losing the 15th match with a 181 score, Clutario stumbled with a 159 to give the Singaporean some breathing space on a 25-pins lead going into the position-round match decider. Clutario met Pasay's Ditas Red in the third and fourth playoffs while Hui Fen met Sin Hae Young.

Tension was felt in both camps but it was Clutario who start off better with a turkey. On the next pair of lanes, the topseed had a double while the Korean was trailing the Singaporean.   Both Hui Fen and Clutario had a split in the seventh frame which meant the Singaporean was still ahead. Hui Fen ended the match with 187 to lose to Sin Hae Young abd despite Clutario winning her final match, the Filipina only made up 19 pins to still fell short by 4 pins.

But her final game effort won the silver for Paranaque while Sin had to settle for the bronze medal for Daegu, just three pins adrift Clutario. "I knew I had a small lead over Liza (Clutario) and I was very tense indeed," said the 16-year-old newly-crowned champion, Hui Fen. "I made a bad shot in the seventh and got a split but when Liza also had a split, I was slightly relieved.

"It has been an amazing week for me here and to win the Masters gold is fantastic. I've to thank coach, Uncle Henry, who has been guiding me throughout the championship. I also have to thank all my teammates for supporting me."

Denise Chan Je Lin put in a better second block performance improving from 15th position overnight to eighth position. Denise won seven matches as opposed to only three to give herself a total of 3108 over 16 matches plus bonus.   Darshini Krishna dropped one spot from ninth to tenth on 3047 while Genevieve Gan Hui Ying fell from seventh to 15th with 2936. No Singapore men made the Masters finals.

Paranaque City regained the women's overall title with 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal for a total of 23 points. Singapore finished as runnerup with 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze and two 4th placings on 17 points.

Detailed scores: Women's 2ndBlk Masters | Women's Medal Tally. Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau.