19th August, Bangkok: Chinese Taipei and Singapore A shared the final day glory at the 21st MWA Asian Junior Tenpin Bowling Champioships after Lan Shao-Kang and Lim Shi En claimed their third gold medals in the Boy's and Girl's Masters finals.

Lan, the 17-year-old Doubles and All-Events gold medallist and topseed, beat challenger and winner of the semi-final, Syabil-Azam Syamsul of Malaysia, 234-210 in the first two-games total pinfall final for a 24 pin cushion. In the second game it look as though the Taiwanese will cruise home for a comfortable victory.

When Lan failed to make two consecutive 10-pin spares in the fifth and sixth frame, he started to trail his opponent by 13 pins. The Malaysian could not take advantage of the situation by stringing strikes together. The Taiwanese then struck in the 9th, 10th and 11th frames to seal the victory, 213-206 and a 447-416 total pinfalls win.

Syabil-Azam, who defeated third-seed, Cheng Shao-Hua of Chinese Taipei, in a closely contested first stepladder match, 217-213 to advance to the final match, settled for the silver while Cheng added a bronze medal for his country.

In the girl's division, third-seed Ishida Manon of Japan edged second-seed and Doubles and Team bronze medallist, Nur Irdina Binte Hazly of Singapore B, 194-183 to advance to the final and to face topseed, Lim Shi En of Singapore A.

Lim took the first game, 197-181 for a 16-pin margin. The 16-year-old Singaporean and gold medallist in the Doubles and Team events, had an opened frame in the first but recovered with four strikes-in-a-row to draw level with the Japanese.

Although Lim suffered another opened frame in the eighth, marking her remaining frames allowed her to clinch her third gold medal of the championships with 198-194 win and a 395-375 narrow total pin victory.

Manon added a second silver medal to Japan's first silver medal in the Team event. Nur Irdina also won her third bronze medal after settling for third in the Masters finals.

Chinese Taipei and Singapore A emerged as joint Overall champions with 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals haul. Malaysia finished third with a medal haul of 1-3-2. Singapore also emerged as Girl's champion while Chinese Taipei was the Boy's champion.

Host national Thailand finished fourth in the overall medal tally with 1 gold and 1 bronze, both won by their up and coming bowling talent, Ramita Sarntong. Hong Kong was the only other country to win a gold medal in the Boy's Team of Four.

The victory banquet was held at Blu-O Rythmn & Bowl, Ratchayothin which was followed by some traditional dancing performances presented by TTBA and Blu-O. Host nation, Thailand handed over the ABF flag to Singapore as the host of the next Asian Junior Tenpin Bowling Championship in 2023.

A total of 64 boys and 40 girls from 11 Asian countries participated in the 21st MWA Asian Junior Tenpin Bowling Championships held over six days contesting Singles, Doubles, Team of Four and Masters Finals.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Bangkok, Thailand.