SEA Games: Tearful Cherie pays tribute to late bowling coach Henry after singles win

KUALA LUMPUR – Of the bowling women’s team of six here in Malaysia for the SEA Games, Cherie Tan – who at 29 is the oldest among them – is the big sister of the 12-strong squad, the stoic one the others can count on for support and strength.

But Tan barely managed to maintain her composure on Sunday (Aug 20), as she paid an emotional tribute to her former coach Henry Tan after clinching Singapore’s first bowling gold at the 29th SEA Games in the women’s singles. 

Henry, 73, who was national coach from 2006 to 2013, died of heart failure on Thursday, the day the national bowlers left Singapore for Kuala Lumpur. 

Unlike past Games, there were no jubilant cries or shouts of “Majulah Singapura” after Tan’s victory at the Sunway Mega Lanes on Sunday.

“The atmosphere of the team is sombre because Henry just died…We had a team meeting on Saturday and we told ourselves that we were going to bowl for Henry and we are doing this for him,” said Tan, who first met Henry at 13 when he was her private coach before he mentored her in the national team.

“He was very strict and fierce when I was young, but he was also a great mentor.”

Bowling in memory of her former coach, Tan was on fire on the lane. 

Leapfrogging Game 1 leader Esther Cheah after the second game, Tan never relinquished the lead, as the southpaw, who won the singles gold in 2011 before her younger sister Daphne Tan claimed gold in 2015, chalked up a comfortable gap over her closest rival, Sin Li Jane of Malaysia. 

While Sin, who won gold in the doubles and team event in 2015, tried to play catch up with a flurry of strikes in the sixth and final game, it was not enough for the title. 

Tan finished first with a total of 1,413 pinfalls, while Malaysians Sin and Shalin Zulkifli claimed silver and bronze respectively in 1,300 and 1,297.  

She added: “The lanes were good. We didn’t even get this (ball) carry during practice so there was more room for errors. The pins just fell, and it was like someone up there (Henry) was watching.”

While Tan finished in top spot, her other teammates did not fare as well. 

Shayna Ng (1,290), New Hui Fen (1,286) and Jazreel Tan (1,284) were placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, while Bernice Lim (1,189) and defending singles champion Daphne Tan (1,120) finished 19th and 25th.

The Malaysian bowlers, who played party pooper at the 2015 Games by winning five out of 10 gold medals and claiming the title of top bowling nation, are not about to let Singapore ruin their homecoming party.

Veteran bowler Shalin vowed to fight back, as the 17-time SEA Games champion said on Sunday: “It’s not the greatest start because we wanted to win the gold…but I’m not disappointed as this will make us even more dangerous. 

“Whether we win or lose, we always fight and our team is known for that.”

Despite losing the women’s title, the men ensured that the Malaysians did not go empty handed on Sunday, as defending champion Rafiq Ismail claimed back-to-back gold medals in the men’s singles later in the evening.

The battle between bitter rivals Singapore and Malaysia for the remaining nine gold medals continues on Monday in the men’s and women’s doubles. 

The Singaporeans are hoping to do the country, and Henry, proud, as Tan added: “It’s definitely sad, but at the end of the day, he would want us to do well.”

For Tan, the sight of Henry standing at Changi Airport’s arrival hall will be missed sorely. 

Struggling to compose herself, she said: “Even after he retired, he always supported us and went to the airport to receive us after each competition. We will miss that.”