SEA Games: Beaten again but Singapore’s women bowlers vow to strike back

KUALA LUMPUR – Hearts heavy with disappointment, Singapore’s bowlers Cherie Tan, Shayna Ng and New Hui Fen stoically packed away their bowling balls as the action wound down at the Sunway Mega Lanes on Wednesday (Aug 23). 

Three lanes over, the scene could not have been more different, as their rivals from Malaysia huddled together with their coach, bawling as they celebrated their gold-medal victory at the 2017 SEA Games.

For Ng and Tan, the loss to home favourites Shalin Zulkifli, Esther Cheah, and Sin Li Jane was even tougher to take as they were part of the women’s trio that won the event two years ago with teammate Bernice Lim.

It also marked another barren day on the lanes for Singapore’s bowlers, who had started their SEA Games campaign with Tan’s gold in the women’s singles before falling short in three events over the two days, winning a silver and bronze in the women’s doubles.

Yet Ng, Tan and New had looked set to break that duck on Wednesday. 

Placed second after the morning session on long oil, they leapfrogged the Malaysians after the fourth game with their combined score of 2,540-pinfalls, eight more than their Causeway rivals. 

The final two games were an intense affair, with the Malaysians (3,204) overtaking Singapore (3,181) in the fifth game. Then, a series of missed spares and errors in the sixth and final game proved costly for the Singaporean trio. 

As Cheah and Sin also struggled to put in the points, it was Shalin who emerged the heroine as the veteran – who has won 17 SEA Games gold and two titles at the Asian Games – unleashed a flurry of strikes, and piercing shrieks, to propel them to victory to the delight of some 500 vociferous fans in the stands. Malaysia eventually clinched gold in 3,835, while Singapore settled for silver in 3,795. 

Natasha Roslan, Syaidatul Afifah, and Siti Safiyah Amirah of Malaysia claimed the last podium spot, finishing third with 3,785 pinfalls.  

“We made a lot of errors that we were not supposed to,” said Ng after the event.

“We weren’t able to refocus in time (after making mistakes) and allowed one person’s mistakes to affect the rest. It wasn’t very professional on our part, having competed in so many events. We should have had it under control.”

While Wednesday’s results meant that the national bowlers have now competed in six events without reaping gold, coach Jason Yeong-Nathan is not about to push the panic button. 

He said: “We bowled well but made some mistakes...Malaysia were better so they deserved to win.

“After every event that they didn’t win, we have to bring them back up. We’ve got to get their focus back. 

“They are good bowlers, and they are capable of winning. I have yet to see each of the bowlers at their best (here) and they are capable of a better performance. When all five of them get together, they are very strong, and will put up a good fight.”

Agreeing, Ng said the focus is reclaiming the team gold after losing it to Malaysia in 2015. “We can be super demoralised and not show up (figuratively) on Thursday, or look at it positively. The team gold trumps the singles, doubles, trios and is the most important one is yet to come.”