Singapore emerges as overall champion

17th October, Singapore: Host city, Singapore ended the 25th Asian Intercity Bowling Championship as overall champion with Bernice Lim winning her second individual gold medal in the Women's Masters final while Choi Suk Byung of Daegu took the Men's Masters crown.

Bernice Lim, who won her first individual gold medal in the All Events, defeated challenger, Apple Posadas of Paranaque 234-134 in the first match of the best-of-3 title match.But the Filipino bounced back by winning the second match, 257-207 to level up one-all. In the thrilling decider, Lim kept her cool to edge Posadas, 215-213 to win her second individual gold and the nation's fifth.

The champion had sailed past fifth-seed, Kristin Quah of Jurong, 2-0 (200-170, 199-140) in the semi-finals while Singapore was denied an all-Singapore final when Posadas eliminated Singles gold medalist, Amanda Ng, 2-1 (225-235, 191-159, 213-196) in the other semi to face the top seed.

Lim advanced to the semi-final after she breezed through by defeating Jerusha Chan of Shah Alam, 2-0 in the Round of Top 8 quarter-finals while Amanda Ng beat Joey Yeo of Jurong, 2-0 to reach the semi-finals.

Third-seed, Ilma Nur Jannah of Singapore crashed out in the Round of Top 16 losing to Jerusha Chan, 1-2 to end in ninth position while ninth-seed Fok Ka Wai also crashed out by losing to Joey Yeo, 0-2.

Meanwhile, Choi Suk Byung won Daegu's second gold medal when he defeated Tay Hui Chiang of Jurong, 2-0 (235-194, 190-179) in the Men's finals. Choi had advanced to the title match with a victory over Pasay City's Jeremy Posadas, 2-0 in the semi-finals.Tay prevented an all-Korean final when he edged second-seed, Park Min Su of Daegu, 2-1 (179-220, 245-237, 253-237) in the other semi but could not repeat his form in the finals. The Singaporean also edged top seed, Jay Leon Guerrero of Tamuning, 2-1 in the quarter-finals.

Tay knocked out another Daegu finalist, Park Hee Jeong, 2-0 in the opening Round of Top 16. Choi advanced into the semi after he beat sixth-seed, Lee Tak Man of Macau, 2-0 in the Round of Top 8 quarter-finals and a 2-1 victory over Hong Kong's Chang Yat Long in the opening round.

 

Adam Chew of Jurong claimed his second gold medal with victory over Singapore's Steven Tan to win the Senior Men's Masters title. Chew had earlier beaten Pasay City's James Dela Cruz, 2-0 in the semi.Steven Tan edged top seed, Gerry Tan of Paranaque, 2-1 in the other semi. Both the finalist had easily sailed past the Round of Top 8 with 2-0 victories.

The Senior Women's Masters gold medal went to Liza Or of Paranaque after she beat top seed, Baby David of San Juan, 2-0 (213-163, 173-124) in the finals. Liza edged Shirley Liew of East Coast, 2-1 in the semi-finals. David defeated Lyn Tan in the other all-San Juan semi-final match, 2-0 to reach the finals.

Singapore emerged as overall champion to win the the Shinzo Sato Cup with a total of five gold, three silver, six bronze medals and a fourth placing, all from the women's division. Jurong finished second with four silver and one bronze medal.

Singapore also emerged as Women's champion winning all the five gold medals while Daegu was the Men's champion with a medal haul of two gold, two silver and a bronze medal.

President of the Singapore Bowling Federation, Mrs Jessie Phua said in her closing speech: "We can agree that the bowlers kept us at the edge of our seats and it was a befitting ending to an exciting few days."

"I'm very happy to see that more and more people have come out to support this," added Mr Johnson Cheng, President of the Asian Intercity Bowling Council, in his closing speech. Mr Cheng also hopes that this regional championship will continue to grow and be around for a long time more.

A total of 126 bowlers from 17 cities participated in this year's championship vying for medals in Singles, Doubles, Team of 4, All Events and Masters events. The championship also featured the Senior division which six cities taking part.

 

Photos by SingaporeBowling.