Only a bronze medal for Asian Schools meet

Only a bronze medal for Asian Schools meet

26th May, Hong Kong: Singapore won only one bronze medal in their 11th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship campaign which just concluded at Hong Kong Bowling City in Kowloon Bay on Tuesday. Edlyn Kwok You Jing, in her second Asian Schools championship, ended in sixth position after the 16-games Masters finals contested over two days. Kwok was 10th in the first block totaling 1635 from five wins but posted a much improved 1767 from four wins for a total of 3492.

Celine Mok Wen Jun finished 14th with 3202 followed by Genevieve Gan Hui Ling 15th with 3171. Singles and All Events gold medalist, Misaki Mukotani won her third gold and Japan's sixth after she defeated topseed, Sim Ui Jin of Korea, 461-430 in the two-game title match.

Misaki's victory sealed the overall champion title for Japan with a total medal haul of 6-3-2. The second-seed easily ousted third-seed, Rebecca Whiting of Australia, 211-181 to advance to the finals.   No Singapore boys made the Masters finals. Paul Yap finished 17th in the All Events missing the top 16 cut by 29 pins. Third-seed, Lim Dong Sung beat topseed, Park Jong Woo in an all-Korean finals, 440-354 to win Korea's second gold medal. The champion had earlier edged second-seed, Daisuke Yoshida of Japan, 243-235 in the first stepladder match to face fellow-compatriot, Park in the finals.

"We've inherited the selection process for this championship and judging from the results here, there has to be changes made to improve the process," said the team manager and Head of Department for PE at ACE Baker, Tan Seck Heong.

"We've to take into consideration players who did not make the squad via the National Schools championship but may be picked based on their performances in other tournaments. Some of these could come from the national development youth squad who are eligible."   In the previous meet in 2007, Bernice Lim won the Girl's All Events silver. In 2006, Singapore won 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal in Bangkok while in 2005, the team brought home 1-3-1 medal haul and in 2004, 1-2-1.

For the past ten years, Singapore has amassed a total of 9 gold, 18 silver and 10 bronze medals. Japan emerged as overall champion with a convincing medal haul of 6-3-2 with Korea 1-4-3. The gold medal won in the Masters did not count toward the overall tally as it came from Lim Dong Sung from Korea's B team.

Detailed scores: Girl's Stepladder Finals | Boy's Stepladder Finals. Photos by Terence Yaw for SBF.