Singapore wins third gold
6th July, Singapore: Host nation ended the 1st Asian Youth Games 2009 on a high after Basil Low won Singapore's third gold medal when he triumphed in the Boy's Masters finals while New Hui Fen and Darshini Krishna added a silver and bronze medal in the girl's division. Basil Low, who shared second place in the first block yesterday, was trading second spot throughout the second block between Filipino, Collins Jose until they went into the position round match.
The Singaporean beat leader, Choi Kyung-Hwan, 236-211 in the crucial match to claim topseed with a two-block total of 3576, winning 10 matches altogether. Choi finished second with 3558, 18 pins adrift while the final stepladder spot went to Jose on 3507.
A closely-fought first stepladder match saw Choi edging Jose, 218-211 to advance into the championship match with topseed, Low. The 17-year-old Team slver medalist, started a cracking pace with a turkey followed by another four strikes-in-a-row from frame five unsettling his opponent and taking the first game, 236-220.
Despite conceeding a split in the opening frame of the second match, Low went on a strikefest reeling in 9 consecutive strikes which got the large crowd of local supporters cheering wildly.
Choi conceeded the match and settled for the silver, 213-265 allowing Low to win the first gold for the boys 501-433 total pinfalls and Singapore's third in the games. Jose took home the bronze, a first medal for his country, Philippines.
"Sure I was a little nervous in the beginning but once I was able to get three strikes from the start, I settled down very well," said the newly-crowned champion, Basil Low. "We've work hard for this championship and I'm glad everyone of us has taken home a medal."
"All the bowlers did Singapore Bowling and our country extremely proud with such an exceptional performance," said the delighted SBF and FIQ President, Ms Jessie Phua. "The coaches have done an incredible job in preparing for this championship and I'm so very proud of them too."
Justin Lim stormed home with a superb 248 in his position round match but missed the stepladder finals to finish fourth with a total of 3439 while overnight leader, Peerawich Rungcharoem of Thailand took fifth spot with 3427.
Singapore could have ended the games even grander had topseed and two gold medalist, New Hui Fen been able to beat her challenger, Sim Ui-Jin of Korea in the girl's title match. Hui Fen, who had a dismal first block finishing eighth last night, shot the tournament's only perfect game earlier today.
The 17-year-old Sport Science student completed the second block in pole position with a scintilating display of sheer fighting spirit to haul herself from eighth winning seven of the eight matches contested.
She topped the field with 3524 to advance into the stepladder finals as topseed. Overnight leader and teammate, Darshini Krishna gave Singapore plenty to cheer for when she finished second with 3502 to join Hui Fen in the stepladder finals.
But her dream to win an individual gold was dashed when she was outclassed by third-seed, Sim Ui-Jin of Korea, 199-249 in the first match to settle for the bronze medal. Sim went on to beat Hui Fen, 443-350 over the two-game total.
Sim easily won the first match, 239-182 and 204-168 as Hui Fen just could not get into her usual strides and had to settle for the silver. Hui Fen has won two gold and two silver medals in the games making her the highest achiever for the country.
"Although I had a chance to win my third gold but lost to the Korean, I'm still very happy to come away with two gold and two silver medals," said Hui Fen.
"I've two gold and one silver to take home from my most memorable championship ever," said the 17-year-old Sim Ui-Jin, who also won three gold and a silver medal in her first international assignment for her country at the Asian Schools CHampionship in Hong Kong earlier this year."
Singapore emerged the overall champion with a 3-3-2 medal haul while Korea won 3-2-4. Hong Kong was the only other country who won two gold medals in the Boy's Singles and Team event.
Photos by Terence Yaw for SBF.