Malaysia, Korea shares glory
15th July, Hong Kong: Malaysia and Korea shared the glory on the final day of the 10th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship as Wan Nur Atiqqa-Zatil Iman of Malaysia and Choi Tae Seung-Shin Seung Hyeon bagged the gold and silver medals of the Girl's and Boy's Masters event.
Wan Nur Atiqqa finally had her dream come true as she defeated teammate, Zatil Iman, 459-401 over two games total to secure the Girl's Masters gold medal. Atiqqa, who only managed to win a silver and bronze medal in the same event in 2005 and 2006, had earlier finished as top-seed in the second block finals.
The champion edged Zatil 206-200 in the first stepladder match and went on to claim her first-ever individual gold medal in the Asian Schools championship with a 253-201 victory over her challenger in the second match.
Third-seed, Zatil had earlier edged second-seed, Kim Mun-Jeong of Korea, 181-170 to guarentee Malaysia the gold and silver medals. Malaysia also emerged as the girl's overall champion after winning 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.
In the boy's division, Korea also finish 1-2 as Choi Tae-Seung after he easily beat overnight first block masters leader and All Events gold medalist, Shin Seung-Hyeon, 434-384 over the two games stepladder finals.
Choi outclassed Shin, 225-174 to build up a comfortable 51 pins margin and despite loosing the second match, 209-210, the champion took the gold medal with 50 pins to spare. Shin, who had led from the 9th to the 15th, surrendered the top-seed to Choi in the final position-round match before the stepladder grand finals.
Shin assured Korea the gold and silver after he easily defeated third-seed, Loh Xian Yan of Singapore in the first match, 234-190 before going down to his teammate.
Korea emerged the boy's overall champion with 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. The mighty Koreans also finished as the overall champion with 4 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals.
13 countries with 21 boys teams and 17 girls teams competed in the 10th edition of the Asian Schools over seven days at Mei Foo Super Fun Bowl in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The 11th Asian Schools will be held in Melbourne, Australia.
Detailed scores: Girl's Stepladder | Boy's Stepladder | Photo Album.
Photos by Terence Yaw for HKTBC.