Singapore pair clinch U-25 men’s sets title in lawn bowls tournament

SINGAPORE – An anterior cruciate ligament injury spelled the end of Isaac Yu’s football pursuits several years ago.

But as one door closed, another opened. He picked up lawn bowls in 2022, going on to represent Singapore in the sport and even winning titles.

His latest triumph came on July 27, when he and his teammate Harriman Yuen clinched the Under-25 men’s sets title in the Lion City Cup, an international pairs tournament, at the Kallang Lawn Bowls Green.

Despite finishing fourth out of seven teams in the group stage, Yu and Yuen upset group winners Quenton Ip and Nixon Man of Hong Kong 7-3, 8-4 in the semi-finals before prevailing 6-5, 4-12, 1-0 against Malaysia’s Haiqal Azami and Ahmad Zikry Sazeli in the final.

Buoyed by the victory, the 23-year-olds, who had also won the national pairs title earlier in 2024, have set their sights on bigger targets.

Yuen is aiming for a medal at the World Bowls Junior Championships, while Yu is eyeing a podium spot at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, whose host has not been confirmed yet.

Yu, a third-year aerospace engineering student at Nanyang Technological University, said: “Despite the win, there’s still a lot that we can do and room for improvement, if we want to go to bigger international stages.”

He had picked up lawn bowls just two years ago, as it does not demand too much of his injured left knee.

“I looked around for a sport that I could play, where my injury would not be a physical limitation. And I found bowls, which I had actually been watching since like 2010, but I never knew how to play it,” said Yu, who had undergone two operations on his left knee since suffering the ACL injury during national service.

“Only after I got injured did I have the thought that this was a sport that I could play and work hard at to represent Singapore.”

The duo’s title was Singapore’s sole triumph at the Lion City Cup, which was making its return after a five-year hiatus, with participants from eight countries and five local clubs doing battle in the Open and Under-25 categories in both the sets and ends formats.

The seven-day competition, which also took place at the Tanglin Club, was part of the World Bowls Series.

The two teams from the Philippines clinched three of the eight titles on offer, with Hong Kong’s Ip and Man bagging the Under-25 men’s ends title and Abbie Chan and Audrey Lai winning the Under-25 women’s sets title.

New Zealand’s Leeane Poulson and Robyne Walker won the Women’s Open sets title, with Malaysia’s Nurul Alia Fitrah Ali and Ain Nurnajwa Sam emerging as champions in the Under-25 women’s ends category.

Winning was a family affair for the Filipino teams, who won both Men’s Open titles and the Women’s Open ends crown – with uncle-nephew and aunt-niece pairings.

Ainie Knight, 38, who owns a lawn bowls club in the Philippines, said that their objective was to provide more exposure for her niece, 19-year-old Angeleca Abatayo, and nephew, 18-year-old James Abatayo Raz.

Knight added: “We do this for them to give them more experience. I tell my niece to just be confident. No matter who we play against, any opponent, to just remember that no one is higher than us and that we’re all on the same level.

Knight’s brother Elmer Abatayo, 34, said: “They are the stars because we’re getting older. The youngsters are going to replace us as players.”