KUALA LUMPUR — As national bowler Keith Saw stood on the podium and received his South-East Asian (SEA) Games men’s team-of-five gold medal on Thursday evening (Aug 24), he roared “Singapore!” at the top of his lungs.

His primal display of joy was not a surprise – after all, he, with teammates Muhammad Jaris Goh, Darren Ong, Cheah Ray Han, Basil Dill Ng and makeup team bowler Timothy Tham had just ended the Republic’s long 22-year wait for a gold in the team event.

At the Sunway Mega Lanes, the Singaporeans posted 6,399 pinfalls to emerge top of the seven-team field.

Indonesia finished second with 6,280 pinfalls, while Thailand took the bronze (6,278).

What made their feat even more remarkable is that the average age of the team is just 20.1 years old. In other words, the last time Singapore won the event at the SEA Games in 1995, Saw had barely just turned one, Goh was only over a month old, while Darren, Ray Han, Basil and Timothy were not even born yet.

Even an hour after their victory, there was still a sense of wonderment among the keglers over their achievement. “It feels really surreal ... when we came into this tournament, we expected to win just the bronze medal, so to win the gold is unbelievable,” Ray Han, 17, told TODAY. 

“All we wanted to do was to enjoy the process. We achieved that, and I’m proud that we made history today.”

Agreeing, Goh also dedicated the team’s gold medal to the late Henry Tan, Singapore’s former national coach who died of heart failure last week.

“All of us are still in disbelief,” the 22-year-old said. “This gold is really important for the men’s team. It’s a huge stepping stone for us. But importantly, this gold medal is for Henry.”

The team gold is also the first medal that Singapore men’s bowlers have won at this year’s Games after finishing empty handed in their four previous events – the singles, doubles, trios and mixed doubles.

But Saw insists that winning the team gold had always been the priority at the Games.

“The coaches have been preaching about the team event for the longest time, because we’ve hardly come close to winning a team medal over the past few editions,” explained Saw. 

“It’s a really prestigious event, and one of the hardest to win, so it means the most out of all the other (events).

“The most important thing for us today was that we trusted each other...it’s about teamwork and cooperation. That’s why we were able to pull through the difficult times.”

Singapore also won a silver on Thursday as Bernice Lim, Cherie Tan, Daphne Tan, Jazreel Tan, New Hui Fen and Shayna Ng retained the silver in the women’s team event after scoring 6,203 pinfalls to finish ahead of the Philippines (6,075 pinfalls). Hosts Malaysia secured the gold with 6,264 pinfalls. 

While this means that Singapore’s women bowlers have now won one gold (singles), three silvers (doubles, trios and team of five), and a bronze (doubles) at this year’s Games, it still falls short of the three gold and four silver that they won at the 2015 edition on home soil.

Although all six bowlers still have one more event to play, having qualified for the women’s masters on Friday, there was still an air of disappointment within the team over their performances at the Games this year.

Said recently-crowned Sportswoman of the Year New Hui Fen: “Bowling is a sport in which you can't really predict the winner. It is a close-skill sport unlike swimming or track and field where the fastest timing always wins.

“There are many variables (to the sport), and you need the right people, right place and right time to make that (gold medal) happen.”

Ng elaborated on the variables that have not gone the team’s way so far this year.

Said Ng: “Our spares (at this Games) have not been that great, they have to be much better. But the Malaysians have been training on their home ground for months before us, and while it is no excuse, the lanes do play differently from what we are used to at home and it takes us more time for us to adapt. So it’s all these little things that have given the other teams the gold medal.”