Two Singaporeans impress in first block

Two Singaporeans impress in first block

27th March, Kuwait: Singapore’s Justin Lim Chun Liang and Jason Yeong-Nathan put in an impressive performance in their opening block of the 7th Kuwait International Open Bowling Championship to finish third and fourth in Squad B. Jason Yeong-Nathan started his campaign in the qualifying rounds of the championship in the second squad of the first block of 6 games with a superb 230 to trail pace-setter, Yousef Jamal Tabtabaiy of Kuwait by 9 pins.

The lead went to twice runnerup of Dubai Open and H.H. Emir Cup, Naif Oqab of UAE after the southpaw shot 216 and 239 with Jason continuing to trail by 6 pins after the Singaporean downed a respectable 214.

A third game of 200 gave Jason the lead at the halfway point ahead of Naif by 18 pins but following a poor 181 in the fourth game dropped the 26-year-old to third after the Emirati regained pole. Justin Lim, who had a slow start with 183, rallied on with 211, 227, 203 and 237 to moved up to second by the fifth game and took over second spot behind Naif with one game game to go. Despite finishing with 217, Justin slipped to third with 1278 total. Bahrain’s Yousif Falah stormed home with a massiv game of 288 and snatch the lead from literally nowhere with 1327 pinfalls. Naif settled for second with 1304 while Jason took fourth spot behind Justin with 1267.

“This is the centre where I bowled a perfect game during the Asian Youth Championship in January and I felt quite confident that I’ll do well here,” said the 17-year-old Justin, who was promoted to the national team this year.

“My target is to make the cut for the Top 32 and then take it from there. This is also my second assignment in the national team and I’m determined to contribute to my country’s quest for honours.”   Justin’s three other team-mates, Mark Wong, Basil Low and Eugene Low were less impressive managing only to post 1189, 1148 and 1100 respectively to end in eighth, 15th and 20th positions.

Squad A leader, Surasak Manuwong of Thailand continued to top the standings after two squads with 1344 followed by Malaysia’s Shalin Zulkifli in second with 1341. Squad B leader, Yousif Falah took third spot.

Two more squads will be contested later at 5.00pm and 9.00pm. Singapore bowlers will resume with their second block at 9.00am.

Detailed scores: Block 1 Squad B | Block 1 Squad A | Block 1 Combined | Photo Album. Photos by Terence Yaw in Kuwait.