Singapore achieve record 8-gold feat at Asian Junior Bowling C’ships as Lim Shi En wins 4 titles

SINGAPORE – Her young bowlers’ performances at the Asian Junior Tenpin Bowling Championships prompted Singapore Bowling Federation (SBF) president Valerie Teo to scream with joy many times at Singapore Bowling @ Rifle Range this week.

With Lim Shi En’s victory in the girls’ Masters on Friday, the hosts racked up eight gold and two silver medals to emerge as champions in the girls, boys and overall categories – surpassing their previous best haul of seven golds, four silvers and three bronzes in 2012 – which gave the SBF chief plenty to shout about.

Teo, who ended up with a sore throat after the five-day competition, was beaming with pride even as one of her records – she had won three golds in the 2001 edition when it was still known as the Asian Schools Championships – was surpassed by Shi En, who collected four golds this week.

“Well, records are always meant to be broken,” said Teo with a hearty laugh. “So I’m really glad, actually quite a few of my records have been broken in the last two years by our youth, and I think it shouldn’t be any other way.

“I really hope to see each generation of bowlers come up, break the seniors’ records, push new boundaries and really bring Singapore bowling to the next level.”

Shi En, 17, had emerged as the top seed for the girls’ Masters stepladder finals on Friday after racking up 3,362 pinfalls, with Japan’s Riria Hamasaki (3,331) and Kiri Watanabe (3,288) second and third respectively. The Singaporean then beat Hamasaki 358-335 over two matches to clinch top honours.

Shi En, who had also won golds in the doubles, team and all-events, said: “These four golds really made me very happy, (especially) with a win for Singapore. Coach said, no expectations, go out there and have fun, just do my best.”

On breaking Teo’s record, she said: “Honestly, I don’t think winning another gold makes a difference. Because different competition venues give different things, so I cannot expect much.”

In the boys’ category, Singapore’s Aiman Lim clinched a silver in the Masters stepladder finals. He lost 415-393 to Japan’s Daiya Saito after overcoming Australian third seed Seth Gray-Pendlebury 225-195 in the semi-finals.

The 18-year-old finished as the second seed in the qualifying round with 3,541 pinfalls, 46 behind Saito and 18 ahead of Gray-Pendlebury.

A teary-eyed Aiman said: “I feel like I’ve done quite well this tournament, all thanks to the support of my teammates and coaches who helped me throughout. Without them, I don’t think I’ll be able to achieve what I have done.”

Aiman

had earlier claimed three titles in the singles, doubles and team events,

contributing to the Republic’s gold haul.

Coach Jensen Lim said the record showing was not something they would have dreamt of.

He said: “We’re just trying to focus on what we can do here on home ground, and of course there is home-ground pressure, so I think the whole team (took it) on pretty well including the coaches.”

Emphasising that it takes “a whole village’s effort to make this historical achievement possible”, he added: “It’s a classic display of a team-first attitude that produced a great performance today. Teamwork is the key.”

SBF chief Teo echoed the same sentiments, saying: “They’ve come together as a team not just during this competition, but the whole lead-up to it all the way from the coaches to the team manager to the support structures that they have and their family members. I think that has really contributed to the success of this event.”