Singapore bowlers just miss out on gold at Women's World Championships
Singapore women win three medals at world meet
They began the day yesterday in contention for gold in both the singles and trios events at the Women's World Bowling Championships.
In the end, Singapore's bowlers had to settle for silver and bronze in the singles, and the silver in the trios, with the South Koreans winning both events in Abu Dhabi.
Shayna Ng settled for the bronze after going down 266-238 in her singles semi-final to South Korea's Jeon Eun Hee
Cherie Tan then carried the Republic's title hopes in the event when she beat Jeon's teammate Hwang Yeon Ju 250-160 to make the final.
But the 26-year-old Singaporean struggled on one of the two lanes during the gold-medal clash against Jeon, and failed to string together strikes for the win.
Jeon, on the other hand, failed to score a strike only once, eventually beating Tan 279-189 to claim the world title.
Tan tried to shrug off the disappointment when she partnered Ng and New Hui Fen in the trios final against South Koreans Son Hye Rin, Kim Jin Sun and Baek Seung Ja, but the Singaporeans came up short in the one-game final, going down 695-594.
Singapore's second trios team of Jazreel Tan, Daphne Tan and Joey Yeo narrowly missed out on the semi-finals, when their combined six-game total of 4,034 pinfalls was just five pins fewer than American trio Shannon Pluhowsky, Kelly Kulick and Liz Johnson.
Said Tan: "It was a bit disappointing not to get the golds, we were so near, yet so far today.
"The lanes were a bit difficult and I didn't quite get the carry that I wanted.
"But the Koreans were way better than us and deserved the gold."
National assistant coach Clara Lau said: "In general, we can be happy with the performance of our bowlers today, they fought hard.
"Cherie got the ball in the pocket today but just couldn't get the carry at times, but I definitely believe that we can rectify this problem in the next few days."
The Singapore bowlers, back on the lanes of the Khalifa International Bowling Centre in the Zayed Sports City today for the doubles event, can also challenge in the team event and, possibly, the Masters.
Ng currently leads the all-events leaderboard with 2,781 pinfalls, while Jeon (2,777) and Tan (2,776) are second and third, respectively.
The top three will do battle in the Masters stepladder final on Sunday.
Tan said: "The Koreans are definitely beatable. The whole team are in quite good form for this tournament and we will just focus on our processes and let the outcomes speak for itself.
"We will live to fight another day."
BY THE NUMBERS
0 Singapore have never won a gold medal at the Women’s World Championships, which were first held in 2005. The women bowlers have a total of five silvers and two bronzes, including the three silvers and one bronze from the 2011 edition in Hong Kong. They returned emptyhanded from the last world meet in 2013 in Las Vegas.
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