Singapore claims Singles gold

13th December, K.Lumpur: Singapore Open champion, Cherie Tan claimed the first gold medal for Singapore in the 14th Asean University Games Bowling Competition from Thailand's Saowapha Kunaksorn and Malaysia's Nur Syakira Yeoh.   Nur Syakira Yeoh set the early pace with 247 and 234 but a poor 160 saw the Malaysian handing the lead to Saowapha. Although Syakira regained the lead after the fourth game when she downed 222, Singapore's Cherie Tan made her bid to trail in second, just 2 pins adrift.

Two superb games of 223 and 216 saw Cherie taking the gold as Saowapha over-powered Syakira for the silver leaving the Malaysian the bronze. Ziran Nadiah Ghazli, who was trailing Syakira in the early stages, missed the podium to take up fourth.

Two Singaporeans, Kristel Oh and Lesley Low tied in fifth spot with a score of 1610 while Malaysia's Zatil Iman managed only 1152 to finish seventh. Other Singaporeans, Geraldine Ng, Glenda Quek and Nicole Wong finished ninth, 12th and 16th positions.

Meanwhile, World Youth Team gold medalist, Muhd Syafiq Ridhwan clinched Malaysia's first gold medal in the Men's Singles with 1329 with Thailand's Badin Lerdpiriyasakulit taking the silver and Johan Jamaluddin storming home to claim the bronze medal with 1286.

Singapore's Lionel Li, who set the first game pace, faded off to end up in fifth with 1263 followed by Jamie Liew in seventh with 1254. Kean Jeong Fok, Kenneth Teo, Victor Tan and Tze Keong Toh managed eighth, 11th, 14th and 17th places.

Competition will resume with the Doubles tomorrow and the Mixed Doubles on Monday. The Trios and Team events will be contested on December 16 and 17.

Detailed scores: Women's Singles | Men's Singles.

Photos courtesy of MTBC.