Singapore youth misses stepladder cut

Singapore youth misses stepladder cut

11th July, K.Lumpur: Team gold medalist, Gregory Gan Sheng Chiang of Singapore A missed the cut for the stepladder finals of the 12th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship Boy's Masters finals after finishing fourth on Sunday.  With a 122 pins deficit to third-placed and compatriot, Muhammad Jaris Goh in the first block, Gregory Gan gradually hauled himself up to fourth after the 15th match and trailing third-placed, Yusuke Yamamoto of Japan by 56 pins.

But in the position round match against the Japanese, Gregory lost to Yamamoto, 237-245 to finish fourth and miss the chance for a medal. Yamamoto went on to beat No. 2 seed, Enrico Lorenzo Hernandez of the Philippine, 234-190 to have a crack at the title.

Overnight leader and top seed, Hiroki Takada of Japan, who retained pole by winning 10 matches, outclassed his compatriot, Yamamoto, 450-391 in the all-Japanese finals to win his second gold and Japan's third.

Muhammad Jaris Goh, who was third in the first block, was unable to get into his usual strides and slipped out of contention finishing ninth behind team-mate, Howard Saw, who finished eighth.

Muhammad Danial Zheng Yi and Javier Tan Jun Juan could only managed 14th and 15th positions respectively after a lack-luster performance.In the girl's division, Doubles silver medalist, Kwa Ai Teng was unable to make any headway after the second block and remained eighth and Singapore's best finisher. Nur Azri Muhamd Azan, who was seventh, slipped down behind Kwa into ninth.

Overnight leader Yanee Saebe denied Japan a double victory after she beat top seed, Misaki Mukotani, 429-410 to give Thailand it's first gold medal. Yanee had finished second to Mukotani with 3544 from 11 wins.

Mukotani, who won the All Events gold and last year's Masters champion, settled for the silver despite advancing into the stepladder finals as top seed with 3715 pinfalls after the two blocks finals.

The Thai prevented an all-Japanese finals after dispatching No. 3 seed, Shinobu Saito 231-190 in the first stepladder match to face another Japanese.

Japan retained the overall champion title with a medal haul of 3-4-2 followed by Singapore A in second with 2-1-1 while Philippine A took third spot with 1-2-1. Malaysia A and Thailand tied fourth spot with one gold each.

Detailed scores: Boy's Stepladder Finals | Girl's Stepladder Finals | Photo Album.

Photos courtesy of KLTBA.