Even with a creditable haul of two bronzes bagged by a squad missing many of its top players, Singapore national bowling head coach Francis Yeo was quick to note that the team had fallen short of their own lofty standards.
Jasmine Yeong-Nathan clinched a women's Masters bronze medal yesterday at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Hong Kong after the Republic's women's team won a team bronze earlier.
Yet, Yeo said in a phone interview yesterday: "Normally, people look at the outcome and if you do that, this was definitely not a great one for us."
Despite ample preparation with similar oiling patterns back home, Yeo said the lanes did not play out as anticipated.
"We were caught off guard a little when they didn't play that similarly, but we adapted as the days went by," he said. "We restrategised and made changes to our equipment once we recognised that and focused on the process."
Singapore's women keglers won two golds (trios, Masters) and a team silver last year.
This time around, they were missing seasoned campaigners like New Hui Fen, Shayna Ng, Cherie Tan and Jazreel Tan.
Added Yeo: "In terms of commitment, the athletes gave it everything they had and it was a good learning experience. They can only get stronger."
Going into the second block of eight games yesterday, Yeong-Nathan, 27, was in fifth place.
She squeezed into the stepladder finals in third place, while team-mate Joey Yeo - who started the day second - slipped to fifth.
Yeong-Nathan was beaten 224-177 by South Korean Jung Da Wun in the stepladder semi-final to settle for bronze.
Jung eventually took gold in the Masters event when she beat team-mate Baek Seung Ja 440-364 over two games.
Yeong-Nathan, the 2008 AMF Bowling World Cup champion, said: "It hasn't been an easy tournament for all of us. Everyone wants to win the gold, but we didn't focus on the scores or where we stood, just on what's in front of us and what we could control.
"I guess we had a slower start. But there's no doubt that everyone was trying the best that they could. We made moves together as a team, worked well as a team."
