Singapore eyeing for golden glory

Singapore eyeing for golden glory

6th August, Singapore: Singapore team taking part in the World Men's Championship 2010 will be eyeing for golden glory as they make their way to Dream Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany on Monday. In the history of the championship, Singapore has won 2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals. The world championship has been held since 1954 in which both the men and women competed together.

The championships first split up in 2005 when the women's championship was held in 2005 in Aalborg, Denmark in which Singapore's Jennifer Tan and Alice Tay won a silver medal in the Trios event.

The first Men's World Championship was held in Busan, Korea in 2006 where Remy Ong brought home the gold medal in the Singles and All Events as well as putting Singapore No. 1 in the medal tally.

Jazreel Tan was denied the gold and had to settle for the silver medal in the Masters finals of the World Women's Championship in Monterrey, Mexico the following year. In the following men's championship in Bangkok, Thailand, Singapore returned home empty handed. The women faired better at the 2009 championship in Las Vegas where they defied all odds to make the Team semi-finals but lost to USA to settle for the bronze medal.

This year, Singapore has a much stronger team with the likes of world champion, Remy Ong, who always rise to the big occassion. Ong's form has been impressive having finished third at the 2010 Dubai Open and fourth at the 2010 Emir Cup and picked up the 2010 Saudi Open and 2010 Macau Open titles.

Ong is joined by Jason Yeong-Nathan and Mark Wong who have previously competed at the 2008 championship and by three debutants, Ng Tiac Pin, Basil Low and Justin Lim. Basil has shown great potential especially after winning the Asian Youth Games Masters gold medal.

Justin can also spring a surprise with already two Asian level championships and the World Youth Championship in Helsinki, Finland just two weeks ago under his belt.

This year's championship hosted by German Bowling Federation will feature 68 countries competing for gold, silver and bronze medals in five disciplines - Singles, Doubles, Trios, Team and Masters.

Official pracrice will take place on August 12 followed by the opening ceremony the same day. The Singles, divided into five squads will be contested over August 13 and 14. The top four finishers over the 6-game qualifying round will advance to the one-game knockout semi-finals.

Detailed information: Championship Schedule | Participants. Photos by Terence Yaw.