Despite scoring a phenomenal 299 out of 300 in the singles at the Schools National B Division bowling championships, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)'s Nicholas Ong, had to settle for silver.

The same applied to the all events category while he and his team-mates got a bronze in yesterday's quartet competition.

However, there was consolation for Nicholas as ACS(I) emerged as overall boys' champions anyway.

He said: "I do not feel bad about not winning the singles gold. My team-mate Shaun Wee (who also won the all events) worked extremely hard and he deserved to win gold. I am happy I was able to contribute to us winning the overall championship."

He revealed that he was not expecting to do as well as he did. "During training I was not doing so well, so I had to overcome the fear of not performing at my best. I surprised myself with such good results."

Another bowler who surpassed her own expectations was Singapore Sports School's (SSP) Amabel Chua, 16, the girls' singles and all events champion.

"I was not really expecting to achieve all that I did today," she said. "My goal coming into this competition was to have fun and play my part in the team."

In fact, the SSP girls had plenty of fun, sweeping the singles, doubles, quartet, all events and overall titles. Their male team-mates won the doubles and quartet events.

But it was not all smooth sailing for the SSP girls. One challenge they faced was keeping morale up when things were not going their way.

"During low-scoring games, our negative emotions can affect our team-mates. So we had to learn how to overcome such situations," said Fiona Yew, 16.

Captain Amirah Ng, 16, said one thing that helped was team spirit. "Our support for each other really motivated us and helped us win today," she explained.

ACS(I)'s captain Jaden Tan, 16, also cited the importance of camaraderie, and he believed that the team's victory has strengthened their bonds.

"If we can carry the kind of friendship and brotherhood we displayed today into the next few years, we will definitely do well together," he added.