Cherie Tan bags Bowler of the Year award at Singapore Bowling Federation awards night

SINGAPORE – For years, national bowler Cherie Tan chased an elusive world championship title. She came closest to winning it in 2015, when she earned a silver medal in the singles category in Abu Dhabi.

In 2019, she finally tasted success, becoming the first Singaporean to clinch the World Bowling Women’s Championship Masters title.

Winning that title was like getting a weight off her shoulders, allowing her to enjoy the sport more. She has since gone on to achieve even more on the international stage.

In 2021, she was a silver medallist at the prestigious US Open, before she won a silver medal (singles) and two bronze medals (trios and mixed team) at the International Bowling Federation (IBF) Super World Championships.

A year later, she had a stellar season as she clinched three individual titles – the SEA Games women’s singles gold, Professional Women’s Bowling Association Bowl TV Classic and Singapore International Open.

She said: “For the longest time, my goal was to actually be world champion and I did that in 2019. After that I had to reevaluate what’s next because once you hit the goal that you set, you have to think of what’s next and how you move on from there.

“Before that, it was very pressurising because I’d come very close to winning the world title a couple of times so once you get the monkey off the back, going to competition is not as stressful. You still compete but it’s more enjoyable.”

For her achievements, Tan was named Bowler of the Year (2021/22) at the Singapore Bowling Federation’s awards night at Seletar Country Club on Monday.

On getting the award, she said: “It’s humbling because the team are very strong and the competition is very strong between all of us. Not only I did well, but the team also did well in the last couple of years.”

Tan is now eyeing a team gold on the world stage.

“I still want to win another world title and we have been aiming for the team gold for the longest of times and we came close so many times and we’ve not achieved that, so that’s also part of the team’s goal moving forward,” said Tan, who also bagged four gold medals at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in January.

Among the other award winners on Monday was Colleen Pee, who was named the Youth Bowler of the Year (2021/22) after winning four gold medals at IBF Under-21 World Championships in 2022.

The Bowler and Youth Bowler of the Year awards were given based on performances in both 2021 and 2022 due to the lack of competition owing to the pandemic.

The ITE College Central student, 18, said: “It’s my first time (receiving the award) so I feel very honoured. If it wasn’t for my team, I don’t think I would be able to stand up and collect this award as well.

“What I hope for myself is to continue working hard physically and mentally. I believe the hard work will pay off in the future.”

Senior national head coach Jason Yeong-Nathan (Outstanding Contribution to the Sport of Tenpin Bowling) and William Chua (President’s Award – Team First) were also among the other award winners.

Chua led the team that won two golds, two silvers and four bronzes at the Asian Senior Championships 2022.