From bowler to organiser, Jazreel Tan rolls off Sonic International Classic

SINGAPORE – National bowler Jazreel Tan has spent most of the past week on the sidelines at Sonic Bowl at Safra Yishun watching her teammates and friends bowl.

While Tan has been itching to get on the lanes, she has not got the chance to do so because she has gone from bowler to organiser for the Sonic International Classic, which began on Thursday and ended on Sunday.

The idea for the competition, which boasted a field that included national bowlers from Singapore and Malaysia, and two from the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour, Maria Jose Rodriguez and Danielle McEwan, came about because Tan felt having more of such tournaments can help to raise the profile of the sport.

So the 33-year-old, who had mainly been involved in organising smaller local tournaments with Sonic Bowl, worked towards adding an international event to the company’s roster, which led to the launch of the Sonic International Classic.

“The purpose is just to get everybody together especially when everything is coming together again, I would like to add on to that and bring up the sport of bowling in Singapore in general,” said Tan, who read sport management at Wichita State University.

“In Asia, we have the regular tournaments but why not more? Practice is important but competing is just as important because that’s where you know whatever you do in practice is going to hold up in tournaments.”

The Singapore Bowling Federation (SBF), which usually oversees tournaments for national bowlers, welcomed the move by the bowling centre to organise the international event. The competition is sanctioned by the SBF, Asian Bowling Federation and International Bowling Federation.

Thomas Lee, SBF sports for all committee chairman, said: “This is a welcome addition to Singapore’s richly varied bowling calendar, and builds upon the vibrance from similar events we’ve hosted over the years. Singapore Bowling welcomes opportunities such as these that complement development of our local bowling talents.”

Malaysian bowler Syazirol Shamsudin won the Masters event after beating Singapore’s Jonovan Neo 215-189, 219-186 in the stepladder final. He had earlier overcome compatriot Johnathan Chan 200-191 in the semi-finals, with the latter finishing third.

Sitting out on competing was just one of the trade-offs that Tan had to make in order to organise the competition.

Overseeing the planning was not easy. Tan had to juggle her job as Sonic Bowl’s programme manager and her national team training commitments since 2021.

It has also been a challenging few years on the lanes for Tan, a two-time SEA Games champion and Asian Games gold medallist, as she looks to rediscover her form.

Injuries have not helped as she missed out on several competitions such as the 2019 and 2021 SEA Games in recent years, but she believes she still has more to give and targets – team and individual world titles – that she is still trying to achieve.

“I have goals I haven’t reached, some of these goals may be unreachable any more but at this point, it’s not so much setting big goals but more immediate things that I see myself achieving,” said Tan, who bagged a women’s team silver and doubles bronze at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Hong Kong in January.

“Once I hit it, that’s an improvement and then I’ll ask what’s next? The more immediate goal is to go back to bowling my best again and being at that competitive level that I think I should be.”