Rachel Foo wins double gold as MGS clinch fourth straight C Division bowling title

SINGAPORE – With her cool and composed demeanour, Methodist Girls’ School’s (MGS) Rachel Foo was a picture of consistency at the National School Games C Division bowling competition.

Averaging over 200 pinfalls per game at SuperBowl Mount Faber at Safra, the 14-year-old clinched the girls’ singles title on July 11 before winning the girls’ doubles crown with Tan Rui Lin five days later.

On July 19, she was part of an MGS quartet who won silver as her school secured a one-two finish in the team event for a clean sweep.

In the process, MGS claimed the C Division girls’ overall title for a fourth consecutive time, having also won in 2019, 2022 and 2023. The competition was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

While Rachel had contributed two of MGS’ three gold medals, she was quick to credit her teammates for her haul.

“Even though it was a singles event, my teammates were there for me and cheered me on, no matter what,” said the Secondary 2 student.

She had racked up 1,278 pinfalls to win the girls’ singles, ahead of Tanjong Katong Girls’ School’s Isabelle Navaratnarajah (1,210) and schoolmate Layla Pereira (1,196).

In the doubles, she and Rui Lin registered 2,551 pinfalls, with schoolmates Ashley Boo and Charmaine Toh (2,381) and Mysha Woon and Maryse Toh (2,326) placing second and third respectively.

Despite feeling the pressure coming into the quartets event, Rachel dealt with it by taking things “shot by shot” as she scored 1,285 pinfalls.

She said: “I took the time to calm down before every shot and know what adjustments I needed to make. Even if you don’t get a strike or miss a frame, you still need to be positive and let go.”

But she and her teammates Rui Lin, Mysha and Maryse were unable to defend their gold medal from 2023.

Rachel, who shed tears after the quartets event, remained positive about her team’s performance when she spoke to The Straits Times.

She said: “I feel proud of myself and my teammates. It’s not just about the results, it’s about how much effort you put into each competition that you participate in.”

The quartet title went to her schoolmates Ashley, Charmaine, Layla and Mabelle Tan, who completed MGS’ hat-trick with a 4,778 pinfall total, beating Rachel’s squad by 85 pinfalls.

Ashley, 14, said: “I think that my team really helped one another. When one of us missed a spare or got a split, the others would try and cheer her up.”

MGS bowling coach John Liaw praised the girls’ performance, saying: “The girls worked really hard and they deserve it completely.”

While Liaw, 65, described Ashley as an up-and-comer, Rachel’s high scores were of no surprise to him. He said: “Rachel was one of the best-performing players in the team today, and she’s part of the national team so we expect her to do well in whatever event.”

School flags flew high and cheers erupted across the bowling centre’s 34 lanes as over 100 supporters came to watch the final day of the tournament, which featured the final games of the quartets.

In the boys’ events, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) similarly notched a fourth straight overall title with a clean sweep of their own.

The quartet champions (5,274) Bennett Tay, Leighton Kuah, Aldric Tay and Lebon Peh had led the charge for ACS(I) throughout the entire tournament, with Leighton having won the singles event (1,385), and Bennett and Lebon clinching the doubles gold (2,503).

While Bennett, 13, had finished fourth in the singles event, he “renewed his mind” every day to bounce back and help his school to bag the doubles and quartets titles.

The Sec 1 student said: “I felt a bit nervous from the pressure of facing against Sec 2s and strong schools like Singapore Sports School and ACS Barker.

“It was a whole team effort. I couldn’t have done this without my teammates.”