Singapore's women bowlers reclaim SEA Games team title after 8 years, Latest Team Singapore News - The New Paper
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Singapore's women bowlers reclaim SEA Games team title after 8 years

Singapore's bowlers regained the SEA Games women's team title after an eight-year wait, thanks to a strong second-block showing at the Coronado Lanes in Manila on Friday (Dec 6).

Trailing the Philippines by 19 pinfalls after the first block of three games, the quartet of New Hui Fen, Shayna Ng, Daphne Tan and Cherie Tan rallied to finish top in the next three.

They racked up 4,833 pinfalls, holding off the challenge of defending champions Malaysia (4,803), as the Filipinos slipped to third (4,735).

"It's really sweet because we've been losing to Malaysia for the past couple of times, so to finally beat them this time around is redemption for all of us," said Cherie.

The quartet were part of the gold-winning team in 2011, with Jasmine Yeong-Nathan and Jazreel Tan completing the line-up.

Bowling was not contested in the 2013 edition in Myanmar and, in the 2015 edition on home soil, the team narrowly missed retaining the gold by 55 pinfalls, losing to Malaysia.

In the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur, they lost to Malaysia again.

Not surprisingly, that was the gold that they wanted the most, a point made by New even after she won the women's singles title on Tuesday.

New said: "I really want to thank the team for turning up today."

Meanwhile, in the men's team event, the quartet of Alex Chong, Jaris Goh, Basil Ng and Cheah Ray Han finished fifth out of eight teams with 4,652 pinfalls. Malaysia (4,980), Philippines (4,937) and Thailand (4,896) finished in the top three.

The keglers can add to their medal haul over the weekend, where the Masters events will take place.

Daphne TanCherie TanNew Hui FenShayna NgbowlingSEA Games