A ‘special’ win for Cherie Tan, who earns doubles gold with sister Daphne at world championships

SINGAPORE – National bowler Cherie Tan has won the lot: The Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) Players Championship, World Bowling Women’s Championship Masters title, the SEA Games women’s singles gold and the PWBA Bowl TV Classic title.

And yet on Thursday, she revelled in a “special feeling” after claiming her first title with sister Daphne Tan.

They beat compatriots Colleen Pee and New Hui Fen 226-199, 218-192 for the women’s doubles gold medal at the International Bowling Federation (IBF) World Bowling Championships in Kuwait.

Speaking to The Straits Times after the win, the 35-year-old Cherie said: “I think this one is really, really special, because I won it with my sister.

“We were definitely very emotional after the win. We’ve been wanting to win a doubles title together.

“It’s not so easy to partner each other in the first place, because the whole team is really strong. So we only have had a few chances to partner each other.”

“We had a lot of strong competitors and we both knew that we had to bowl really well to actually stand a chance.”

Daphne, 33, was also delighted, saying: “I don’t even know where to start.

“It’s really been a dream of ours to win a doubles gold together and to do it at the highest level.

“I mean, you can’t ask for anything more than this.

“It is a lifelong dream.

“We have not paired up in all the championships that we have played in, so when we had a chance this time, we really wanted to make it happen.”

The closest that Cherie and Daphne have got to a doubles title together was at the 2011 SEA Games in Jakarta, where they settled for silver.

The sisters had won gold together though, when they were members of the Singapore team of five, with New, Shayna Ng and Jazreel Tan, who clinched the title at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

In Thursday’s semi-finals, Cherie and Daphne defeated Denmark’s Mika Glud Guldbaek and Mai Ginge Jensen 218-205, 193-166.

Pee and New overcame the Philippines’ Grace Gella and Krizziah Macatula 236-149, 250-182 at the Kuwait Bowling Sporting Club in Salmiya.

There could have been a third Singaporean pair in the semi-finals, but Charmaine Chang and Ng missed out on top spot in Group 3 after losing to Gella and Macatula in a roll-off.

Singapore’s Darren Ong and Jaris Goh paired up for the men’s doubles bronze after losing 237-205, 222-194 to South Korea’s Won Jong-hyeok and Oh Byung-jun in the semi-finals.

Won and Oh then lost to Kim Kyung-min and Kim Dong-hyeon in the all-South Korean final.

On Monday, Ong and Goh had won the gold and silver medals in the men’s singles respectively.

Singapore’s tally in Kuwait stands at two golds, two silvers and one bronze, with the trios and team events to come.