If JASMINE Yeong-Nathan's father had his way a few months ago, his daughter would have traded her bowling ball for a golf club.
'This couldn't have happened to a nicer person. She's a model athlete, very respectful, and has a fantastic work ethic.' JESSIE PHUA, SBF president, on Jasmine
She declined, saying she could not bear to give up bowling.
That decision proved to be the right one yesterday, when the 20-year-old etched her name in the history books by becoming the first Singaporean to win the AMF Bowling World Cup.
She did so in style, trouncing the defending world champion Ann-Maree Putney of Australia in the women's finals at Hermosillo, Mexico.
Yeong-Nathan's triumph also represents another milestone for Singapore's new generation of young female bowlers. They include Jazreel Tan, 18 - runner-up at last year's World Women's Championships Masters - and Cherie Tan, 20 - who, along with Yeong-Nathan, was part of the trios team that finished third at this year's World Youth Championships.
'This was the best I have ever played in my life,' said Yeong-Nathan, whose first act after the win was to call her family, including her mother Veronica.
'I'm just overwhelmed by emotions now. It's a great honour, the first-ever for Singapore, and I'm really proud and really grateful.'
But it could all have been very different, had she heeded her father's advice to swap the bowling ball for golf clubs.
'She has a beautiful follow-through, and she can put the golf ball wherever she wants,' said R.V. Nathan, a security manager at Raffles Town Club.
'I wanted her to switch to golf, but she loves bowling too much.'
Yeong-Nathan, the younger of two children, was born with a knack for sports, said her father.
Her passion for knocking down pins can be credited to her brother Jason, 25, who is also a national bowler.
At 10, she regularly trailed him to the now-defunct Victor's Superbowl, where she posted average scores of 170 - a phenomenal achievement for her age.
Bowling was not her only gift.
As a pupil at CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh), she represented her school in the high jump and was ranked sixth in Singapore.
The call of the bowling lanes, however, proved irresistible.
She competed for her school team at Ghim Moh Secondary, winning the C Division girls' singles title at the Schools National bowling championships in 2002.
More glory was to follow. Three years later, she was the Women's Open champion at the National Championships, and fired a perfect game en route to third place at the Indonesian Open Under-23 Masters in Jakarta.
The national team came calling not long after, but success outside Singapore eluded her.
In 2006, she was seventh on her debut at the AMF World Cup in Venezuela, and won a bronze in the trios event at last year's South-east Asia Games.
At the Asian Games in Doha two years ago, she was saddened to learn that she would be a reserve bowler.
But, rather than sulk or dwell on her disappointment, she re-doubled her training efforts.
Said Nathan: 'That's the way Jasmine is. She's very disciplined, and she doesn't throw tantrums when things don't go her way.'
Often regarded as shy and soft-spoken by her teammates, Yeong-Nathan has a steely competitive streak.
This came to the fore yesterday when she took on the experienced Putney, a former World Ranking Masters champion.
The Singapore Polytechnic third-year media and communications student was so focused on her own game that she had no idea how the 38-year-old Australian was doing in the next lane.
Besides, she was too busy burning up the lanes to bother.
An awesome nine strikes in a row in the first game gave her 268 pinfalls. Putney's reply was a 222.
With the world title in her sights, she reeled off 11 strikes in Game Two, and was denied her second perfect game of the competition when her last throw left two pins standing.
Her score of 298 was the highest game recorded in a women's World Cup final, and Putney - who posted a 215 - was well-beaten.
Singapore Bowling Federation president Jessie Phua could barely contain her excitement.
'This couldn't have happened to a nicer person,' she said. 'Jasmine's a model athlete, very respectful, and has a fantastic work ethic. We're all so happy for her.'
