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Cherie Tan off to a winning start in 2023 in Asian Tenpin Bowling C’ships

After a stellar 2022 season, national bowler Cherie Tan picked up where she left off in January by winning the women’s singles gold at the 26th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Competing at the South China Athletic Association Bowling Centre, Tan chalked up a total of 1,525 pinfalls to beat Malaysia’s Natasha Roslan by 49 pinfalls and claim her first Asian Championships trophy. South Korea’s Hwang Yeon-ju took the bronze with 1,459 pinfalls.

Singapore’s Shayna Ng (1,457) and Jazreel Tan (1,453) were fourth and fifth respectively.

Victory on the lanes in Hong Kong will be an early Chinese New Year hongpao for Tan, who won three individual titles in 2022, including the SEA Games women’s singles gold, Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) Bowl TV Classic and Singapore Open title. She also finished as the top female bowler at the Brunswick Euro Challenge.

The 34-year-old said in a phone call from Hong Kong: “Winning the gold medal feels great and it is a validation of the hard work that I have been putting in over the years. It feels like I have been going in the right direction.

“I go into every competition wanting to win and there was a stiff competition here with plenty of quality bowlers so I am definitely feeling good.”

Tan will now turn her attention to her other events at the competition, including the doubles on Wednesday, trios on Thursday and the all events and team of five event next week. She will compete in the championship ending Masters if she finishes as one of the top 16 bowlers across the other five events.

She said: “Every day is a new day in bowling and while this win does give me confidence, you cannot really bring forward what you have done in previous events to the next game. At the end of this championship, I will be able to reflect on what this win has truly meant but for now, it is on to the next few events.”

In the men’s singles, South Korea’s Kim Dong-hyeon won the gold with 1,605 pinfalls, with Malaysia’s Rafiq Ismail (1,579) and Ahmad Muaz (1,575) finishing with silver and bronze respectively.

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