ACS(I) bowlers complete National School Games grand slam with C Division win

SINGAPORE – Just three pinfalls stood between Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) captain Vallen Shin and the boys’ singles gold medal in the National School Games (NSG) C Division bowling competition last week.

But on July 30, the final day of the competition, there was double joy for the 13-year-old, as ACS(I) not only won the quartet event to secure the C Division boys’ title, but also completed a grand slam as the school had already sealed the A and B Division crowns earlier in the season.

With supporters from various schools making themselves heard, there was a raucous atmosphere at the SuperBowl at Safra Mount Faber, but Vallen and his teammates Jaden Foo, Callum Quek and Daniel Heng kept their nerve to clinch the quartet title after amassing 5,274 pinfalls.

Maris Stella High School’s Kayden Ng, Darius Chung, Rayden Yip and Kieran Boo were second with 4,890 pinfalls, 23 ahead of Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)’s Skyler Koh, Varian Ling, Olly Tan and Caelen Lee.

The overall division standings are decided by adding up each school’s top four singles scores, two best doubles scores and the best quartet score.

ACS(I) triumphed with a total of 15,287 pinfalls, ahead of Maris Stella (14,359) and ACS (Barker Road), who racked up 14,225 pinfalls.

Vallen said: “I think that we as a school did pretty well, and I think we all tried our best as a team. In every category we did our best. Even though some of our teammates didn’t win, they still put in a lot of effort.”

ACS(I)’s teacher-in-charge Benjamin Wong said the clean sweep is a long-time dream for him and the team.

“It’s something that we have been working towards for a long time and it’s a remarkable achievement for any school to win all three divisions in the same year,” added the 40-year-old, who had represented ACS(I) in the sport from 1998 to 2001.

“This is testament to not only the hard work of this batch of students, but all the previous seniors who have been working so hard to build up the reputation of ACS(I) as a bowling powerhouse.”

On July 23, Vallen had missed out on the C Division boys’ singles title after amassing 1,315 pinfalls, behind Assumption English School’s Jonathan Chan (1,318), and ahead of Maris Stella’s Rayden (1,300).

Four days later, Vallen paired up with Jaden, knocking down 2,567 pins to claim the boys’ doubles title ahead of Swiss Cottage Secondary’s Wilbert Koh and William Koh (2,462). Maris Stella’s Rayden and Kieran were third with 2,387 pinfalls.

Wong said that the school will celebrate their grand slam victory with a dinner, where around 60 to 70 student-athletes from all three divisions and their parents are expected to turn up.

Looking ahead, he said: “The grand slam has eluded us for a long time, and for many years, we would win two out of the three divisions and it’s always very close… Hopefully we will win the ‘super grand slam’ next year (all boys’ divisions and the girls’ A Division).”

Meanwhile, Methodist Girls’ School asserted their dominance once again as they clinched their sixth consecutive C Division girls’ title.

Their 12,644 pinfall total was enough for the gold, ahead of CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), who registered 12,575 pinfalls, and the Singapore Sports School (12,255).

MGS captain Kyra Chua said: “Everybody put in their best effort, and we all fought to the very end, encouraged each other throughout the games, and so I feel very happy that we managed to achieve the (victory).

“We did come in quite confident, but there was definitely a bit of pressure and we knew that we would have to try our very best to secure first place.

“I think that it was unfortunate that we didn’t have a clean sweep, but it’s still a good win and our efforts paid off.”