She had been bowling for 17 years when she recorded her first perfect game at last year's Brunswick Euro Challenge in March.

Then, in a fortnight, national kegler Cherie Tan claimed two 300s when she made 12 strikes in a row at the AIK International Tournament in Stockholm on Jan 3, before repeating the feat at the 538-bowler Brunswick Ballmaster Open in Helsinki last week.

More significantly, the 30-year-old has demonstrated great consistency to kick off the year with back-to-back podium finishes.

In Sunday's Ballmaster Open stepladder final in Finland, she was beaten 234-213 by the hosts' Joonas Jehkinen and took home a cheque for €6,000 (S$9,300) to add to her second-place finish in Sweden.

Tan said: "As I did not do as well as I wanted to in 2017, my coaches and I decided to make changes to my game last April to improve my consistency and get better shot repetition.

"But the changes were not giving me the consistency I needed so we decided to start from basics and use the opportunity to increase my ball speed. We also included urethane balls in my arsenal to give me an alternative lane match-up.

"Getting my game back on track, my targets this year are to make the team for the World Women's Championships and SEA Games and do well for both to bring glory to Singapore."

National head coach Jason Yeong-Nathan said the target this year for the women's team is to win a medal at both these meets.

The former national bowler said: "They have been working on self-improvement of their physical, mental, technical and tactical game. They took the last few months of 2018 to spend some time on those areas of their game.

"For every tournament they go for, they have their own key performance indicators to hit to get them ready for the majors."