Singapore ties with Japan for silver

Singapore ties with Japan for silver

17th November, Guangzhou: Jason Yeong-Nathan and Remy Ong of Singapore tied with Squad A second-placed, Japan for the silver medal in the Men's Doubles event of the 16th Asian Games at Tianhe Bowling Hall on Wednesday. Zhang Peng and Du Jian Chao got off the blocks with 456 and 495 to give the host nation, China the lead over the favourites, Choi Bok-Eum and Jang Dong Chul of Korea by 25 pins.

But Singapore's third pair of Jason Yeong-Nathan and Remy Ong posted 441, 478 and 492 to take over the running, 32 pins ahead of the Chinese pair at the halfway mark. Jason shot 203, 246 and 212 while Ong rolled 238, 232 and 280.

Another respectable 436 by Jason and Ong gave the Singaporean pair some breathing space and a lead of 41 pins as Zhang and Du stayed closely behind in second. At this stage, the Singaporean would have to bring home 863 or more in their last two games to overhaul Squad A leader.

A lowly 405 in the fifth game put the Singapore pair on the back foot and needing an even higher game of 460 or more to stand a chance of snatching the gold.   Both started off with a double and while Jason went on a strikefest, Ong suffered a split in the third and just could not string together strikes to cover the opened frame.

Jason brought home seven consecutive strikes but Ong had two more opened frames in the seventh and eighth which forced the pair needing to strike out from frame nine to win the gold by 1 pin. But the duo just could not deliver the goods as Jason ended with 258 and Ong a poor 181 for a 439 sixth game. Their total of 2691 tied with Squad B second-placed, Japan for the silver medal.

"I did well in the first three games as Jason was contributing to our scores," said the 31-year-old Ong after recovering from breaking down in tears. "In the second half, it was all Jason and he was simply outstanding.

"We knew we had a golden opportunity to nail the gold but we just simply could not deliver. But we're not dampened at all. Our bonding as a team is very strong and this will show in the remaining events."

"I made sure I was not intimidated by the fact that we've to bowl exceptionally well in order to win the gold," said Jason, who won the Trios silver at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.   "I may look calm but I was also extremely nervous and under tremendous pressure. Overall, I'm glad to have picked up another silver. It would be nice to come away with the gold. We will fight another day."

China faded off to end third in the squad with 2622 as Korea's Choi and Jang stromed home with a sizzling 479, albeit a little late, to snatch second in the squad with 2683.

Adrian Ang and Alex Liew clinched Malaysia's first gold medal with 2711 while Singapore tied with Japan's Shogo Wada and Tomokatsu Yamashita for the silver medal with 2691. Korea missed the podium to finish in fourth.

In the earlier squad, Benjamin Lim partnered Mark Wong to finish 11th in the squad and 26th position overall with 2456 while Basil Low and Ng Tiac Pin managed only 19th and 29th overall with 2307.

Detailed scores: Men's Doubles Combined | Men's Doubles Squad B | Men's Doubles Squad A. Photos by Terence Yaw in Guangzhou.