SEA Games 2017

SEA Games: Midas touch deserts women bowlers

Bowler Shayna Ng in action during practice at Temasek Club on April 25, 2017. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

They felt the stinging disappointment in falling short of their 2015 SEA Games haul, but the Singapore women's bowling team are already looking ahead to stronger performances.

They earned a bronze on the final day of competition yesterday, when Shayna Ng came in third at the masters event at Sunway Pyramid's bowling alley.

The 27-year-old had been ranked ninth after the first block of games in qualification, but fought her way up to first position in the middle of the second block. She then survived a scare to finish third and squeeze into the step-ladder finals.

There, she faced off against home favourite and second-ranked Shalin Zulkifli, who pipped her 224-199 pinfalls.

Ng, who also won a doubles bronze and two silvers in the team and trios events, lamented her close finishes.

"It's just sad that gold didn't come," she said. "But we have other competitions coming up like the world championships at the end of the year, so I'm sure it'll come if I keep trying.

"It's all these (experiences of) not winning that make the eventual wins a lot sweeter."

With the completion of the masters events, the Singapore bowlers finished with two golds, three silvers and two bronzes - a drop compared to the 2015 Games in Singapore, where they snared four golds, five silver and a bronze.

Three of the four golds had come from the women then, but they had only a lone gold this time via Cherie Tan in the singles. The other gold came from the men's team on Thursday.

For senior assistant coach Jason Yeong-Nathan, this outing was a "bittersweet" one. "From the girls' side, we didn't do as well as expected. We (won a medal) in every event but we had only one gold, so the outcome wasn't great.

"I feel sad for them because they really fought their hearts out. If they didn't, I'd be disappointed and upset. As players, they will feel worse because they're the ones competing. For now, we just need to go back and look at how we can improve as a team."

The bowlers' next major competition is the Nov 24 to Dec 4 World Championships in Las Vegas.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 26, 2017, with the headline SEA Games: Midas touch deserts women bowlers. Subscribe