Singapore delivers first gold
18th January, Abu Dhabi: Daphne Tan and Bernice Lim delivered Singapore's first gold medal of the 21st Asian Tenpin Bowling Championship after the duo triumphed in the Women's Doubles event at the Khalifa Bowling Centre on Tuesday. Malaysia got off to a fabulous start with 481 after Jacqueline Sijore shot 269 and Siti Safiyah Amrah 212 in their opening game to lead Singapore's Daphne Tan and Bernice Lim by 9 pins.
But Daphne and Bernice posted 440 in their second game which saw the Singapore pair taking over the lead with Indonesia's Sharon Limansantoso and Putty Armein trailing in second as the Malaysian slipped down to third.
Consistent games of 459, 436 and another high game of 478 gave the Singaporean pair a comfortable lead of 128 over the recovering Malaysian pair going int the final game.
Despite managing only 418, Singapore's total of 2703 allowed them to seal the victory and to win SIngapore's first gold medal of the championship.
"We started off well especially with my opening game of 267 and by the fourth game when I shot another high game of 279, we felt less pressure," said Daphne, who total the highest 6-game series of 1418.
"Daphne carried the team throughout with her superb form and I just made sure that I stayed as close to her score as possible," said Bernice, who won the team gold at the 2009 Asian Youth Championship in Kuwait.
"The girls did exceptionally well today and they demonstrated their "Can Do" attitude throughout," said the delighted coach, Wiliam Woo.
Jacqueline Sijore and Siti Saifyah Amirah bounced back to win the silver medal with 2638 thanks to a superb last game of 481. Sharon Limansantoso and Putty Armein of Indonesia snatch the bronze medal with 2586, thanks also to a superb final game of 467.
The pair of Singles silver medalist, Hwang Sun-Ok and Son Yun-Hee, who were third before the final game, lost to the Indonesian pair by three pins to miss the podium and ended in fourth.
Two other Korean favourites, Shin Ho Hyun-Hong Su Yeon and Jeon Eun Hee-Gye Min Young finished fifth and six positions underlinng the fact that for the first time, Korea has finished outside of the medal positions in the doubles event.
The first pair of Teo Li Ying and Kristel Oh finished seventh with 2500 while the second pair of Fok Ka Wai and Tan Yan Ling took tenth spot with 2480.
Detailed scores: Women's Doubles
Photos by Terence Yaw in Abu Dhabi.