Bowlers New Hui Fen and Shayna Ng find a silver lining in the doubles

At the half-way mark of the women's doubles bowling event yesterday, Singapore duo Shayna Ng and New Hui Fen had a 50-pinfall lead over the Indonesian pair of Tannya Roumimper and Sharon Limansantoso.

However, the SEA Games gold medal proved to be as elusive as it did in 2017, after New and Ng allowed their lead to evaporate over the remaining three games to finish second with 2,476 pinfalls.

Indonesia's effort of 2,552 pinfalls earned them the gold, while Malaysia completed the podium with 2, 458.

Recalling the tense finale at the Coronado Lanes in Starmall Edsa-Shaw in Manila, newly minted women's singles gold medallist New said: "We didn't know it was a close fight.

"I didn't know until I bowled a strike in the 10th frame (of the last game) and saw my coach's reaction, then I knew I needed that."

Ng, who won the bronze in the women's singles, added: "We could tell from the crowd cheering (that the race was tight), but there were quite a lot of things going on, so we couldn't keep track of the scores...

"We were just really focusing on our own game, and the scores don't really matter as long as we do our best."

Their best meant Singapore maintained a silver at this event as they did in the previous Games in Malaysia, but the partnership of Spex scholars are keen to use this experience as a springboard to better performances in the Philippines.

FALLING SHORT

"We are sad that we fell short of the gold medal," Ng said. "But we did well as a team. The communication between Hui Fen, coach and myself was great...

"Also, the oil patterns were different from yesterday and, now that we know more about the lanes, we will be sharper and quicker in making the necessary adjustments...

"We still have more events to come and we will never give up."

The Republic's sister pair of Daphne and Cherie Tan finished seventh in the same event out of 14 pairs.

Earlier yesterday, Singapore duo Basil Ng and Alex Chong finished sixth in the men's doubles, while Cheah Ray Han and Jaris Goh placed eighth out of 15 pairs.

All eight bowlers will be taking part in the mixed doubles today.