Singaporean debutant scores first 300
16th November, Guangzhou: Asiad debutant, Shayna Ng scored the championship's first perfect game during her fourth game of the Women's Singles Squad A at the 16th Asian Games but had to settle for second spot. Asiad debutant, Shayna Ng set the pace with a superb 245 in her opening game, 13 pins ahead of Korea's Jeong Eun-Hee and Malaysia's Shalin Zulkifli tied in second spot and compatriot, New Hui Fen fourth.
Another Korean, Hwang Sun-Ok surged ahead of the duo after rolling down 219, 237 and 259 for a 715 3-game series with Hui Fen taking up second spot, 10 pins adrift as Ng slipped down to third.
The house almost came to a standstill as Ng bounced back with 11 consecutive strikes and lining up for the 300. The 19-year-old struck a convincing 12th strike to register the first perfect game of the championship and took over the lead.
Ng followed it up with another good game of 227 and had a 19 pins margin over Hwang going into the sixth and final game. Unlike the Hwang, Ng was apparently under tremendous pressure to bring home a good game but as it turn out, she ran into all sorts of problems.The Singaporean ended with a diasaterous 153 while Hwang downed 225 to end the squad in pole with 1395. Ng settled for second with 1342 and may prove costly if she fails to win a medal.
Her team-mate and pacing on the same pair of lanes, Hui Fen did better to end her sixth game with 232 to finish third on 1341. Hong Su-Yeon of Korea took fourth spot with 1329 while Indonesia's Tannya Roumimper finished fifth with 1300.
"I don't know what happened in the last game," said Shayna Ng. "I knew the lanes were getting drier and tougher. I made the necessary adjustments and was making good shots but couldn't get the strikes I was getting in the earler games.
"Except for my fourth game when I shot 198, the rest of the games was good," said the youngest member of the team, New Hui Fen. "I guessed I was overwhelmed by the excitment from Shayna's perfect game.
Singapore has plenty to cheer despite losing the opportunity to land the gold and beat the mighty Koreans. Geraldine Ng, was slow off the mark, stormed home strongly to finish ninth with 1200 while Jasmine Yeong-Nathan finished 15th with 1151.
Cherie Tan and Jazreel Tan will take to the lanes for their Singles event in Squad B which will commence at 2.30pm local time. The top 3 in the combined scores will determine the medal winners.
Detailed scores: Women's Singles Squad A.
Photos by Terence Yaw in Guangzhou.