Singapore on course for more medals
2nd July, Bangkok: Singapore look set to grab more medals as New Hui Fen and Bernice Lim advanced into the round of the 12th World Youth Championships 2012 after finishing third and fourth in the Step 1 Masters finals on Monday. All Events gold medalist, Hwang Yeon-Ju of Korea had 114 pins advantage going into the Step 1 Masters finals this morning. Except for a low game of 170 in the fifth, Hwang bowled consistently to end the finals with 5105.
Doubles bronze medalist, Jacqueline Sijore of Malaysia, trailed the Korean throughout the 6-game finals to settle for second with 5057 as New Hui Fen slipped down to third with 4984.
Bernice Lim, who finished 14th in the All Events, rolled the championship’s first 300 in game 2 and ended the finals with the highest 6-games series of 1316 to leapfrog into fourth position with 4927.
Singapore’s two other finalists, Krishna Darshini and Ilma Nur Jannah did not get into their usual strides and ended in 15th and 22nd positions and failed to make the cut.
Singles gold medalist, Kim Seon-Jeong took fifth spot with 4906 ahead of third Korean, Oh Nuri in seventh with 4874. The only non-Asian, Juliana Franco of Colombia, who totaled an identical 4874 with Oh, clinched the eighth and last spot for next round.Meanwhile Singapore sole finalist, Basil Low survived by finishing eighth to make the top 8 cut for the next round with 5113. Low was the other finalist from the Asian zone to advance.
Two gold medalist, Marshall Kent stamped his mark by taking pole position in the boy’s division with 5391 after a keen tussle with All Events gold medalist, Sam Cooley of Australia.
The Aussie totaled 5340 to settle for second spot followed by All Events bronze medalist, Daniel Fransson of Sweden, who remained in third position with 5244. German Christian Berlinger, Dutch Jord Van Weeren, Swede Kim Bolleby and second American, Chris Via advanced in fourth to seventh positions with 5183, 5173, 5158 and 5124.
No Koreans made the next round with Ryu Ji-Hoon and Hwang Dong-Jun missing the cut in ninth and tenth positions with 5066 and 5064.
The top 8 girls and top 8 boys will contest the Step 2 Round-Robin matchplay finals over 7 games (20 pns bonus for a win, 10 for a draw), again on dual oil pattern – medium on the odd lanes and long on the even lanes. The top 4 girls and top 4 boys will qualify for the semi-finals.
Detailed scores: GIrl’s Step 1 Finals | Boy’s Step 1 Finals | Photo Album.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Bangkok.