SINGAPORE - National bowler Cherie Tan capped a terrific year by winning the Storm-Domino's Pizza Cup in Yongin, South Korea on Friday (Dec 20).

The 31-year-old had qualified for the knockout rounds in second place (out of 64 bowlers) with a six-game average of 1,490 pinfalls.

The Singaporean south-paw was cool and consistent at the Red Hill Bowling Lounge as she then took out Irish Chris Sloan 2-0 (220-179, 232-212) in the round of 32 before dispatching South Korean Oh Gyu-seok 2-1 (263-202, 251-267, 242-205) in the next round.

Tan then edged past American Matt McNiel 3-1 (262-235, 261-248, 239-279, 233-186) to make the final four alongside Michael Mak, Steve Kloempken and Hong Sung-woo.

From that point, the lowest scorer after each game was eliminated. American Kloempken was the first to be knocked out, followed by Hong.

In the tense final, it was Hong Kong's Mac who blinked first as he could only manage a 10th-frame split which allowed Tan to prevail 238-227 and pick up the winner's cheque of 40 million Korean won (S$46,700).

Tan has been in sparkling form of late. She won the gold medal in the Masters category of the Women's World Championships in late August and a week later, became the first Asian to capture the Professional Women's Bowling Association Players Championship.

She said: "This is really a great way to round off a really memorable year after winning the World Bowling Women's Championships Masters title and the SEA Games women's team gold."