Cherie pips sister Daphne to step-ladder finals in US
Local bowler Cherie Tan defeated her younger sister Daphne 210-199 to qualify for the step-ladder finals of the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Fountain Valley Open yesterday morning (Singapore time).
The competition in California, which is the third of 14 events on this year's PWBA Tour, saw 83 bowlers taking part.
Said Cherie, 29: "It was great bowling against Daphne. The lane conditions were pretty challenging, but I stuck to my routine to take it one shot at a time and pick up my spares.
"I'm excited to be bowling at the televised finals at Baton Rouge."
Daphne, 27, had initially performed better after three qualifying rounds. She was seeded third with 3,842 pinfalls, while Cherie was 11th with 3,760.
Fellow national bowler Shayna Ng was 10th on 3,765.
The three Sports Excellence scholars progressed to the group step-ladder finals where Ng, who was in Group B, was pipped 211-205 by Liz Johnson, who has won five PWBA Tour titles since 2015.
The Tan sisters met in Group A, with Cherie winning by 11 pinfalls.
She joins Americans Johnson and Kelly Kulick, and England's Verity Crawley in the step-ladder finals, which will be held in Louisiana on May 24 and aired on June 21 (both Singapore time) on the CBS Sports Network.
Daphne told The New Paper: "(I'm having) mixed feelings. I'm happy that my sister made the televised finals.
"Yet, at the same time, I'm disappointed that I missed the cut (after) coming so close.
"We play against each other all the time, just that it's not (usually) a one-on-one match."
This was only the second meeting between the Tan sisters over a decade of bowling. In 2014, Cherie won the Malaysia Open by beating her sister 237-194 in the step-ladder finals.
The finals of the QubicaAMF PWBA Sonoma County Open, PWBA Storm Sacramento Open and United States Bowling Congress Queens will also be held on May 24 (Singapore time).
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