24th August, Kuala Lumpur: First block leader, Singapore defied all odds to capture the Men's Team gold medal of the 29th SEA Games Tenpin Bowling Championships while Malaysia picked up their fifth gold medal in the women's division.

Muhd Jaris Goh, Basil Dill Ng, Darren Ong, Cheah Ray Han and 2015 Doubles gold medallist, Keith Saw set a blistering pace with 1143 in their opening game of the first block to lead Thailand by 43 pins and Malaysia, a further nine pins away in third.

Singapore added another sizzling 1109 before completing the block with 1067 for a three-game total of 3335. Thailand's Kim Bolleby, Surasak Manuwong (althernating with Sithiphol Kunaksorn), Atchariya Cheng, Annop Arromsaranon and Yannaphon Larpapharat finished second with 3276, 75 pins behind the leader.

Philippines did well with a big game of 1166 in the third game to snatch third spot with 3201, 11 pins ahead of Indonesia in fourth with 3190 and Malaysia in fifth with 3117.

Malaysia bounced back after the break with 1059 to regain second spot as Singapore knocked down 1024 to extend their lead to 183 pins. Another good fifth game from Singapore allowed them to remain in the lead, 177 pins ahead of Malaysia.

Thailand was third, 63 pins behind Malaysia while Indonesia was fourth, just 17 pins behind the Thais. With a big margin of 177 pins, Singapore was able to ease off with 948 to seal victory with 6399 ending a 22-year wait for the Team gold since they last won it at the Chengmai SEA Games in 1995.

The battle for the silver and bronze medals came down to three teams, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Ryan Lalisang ended with 232, Hengki Susanto 221, Diwan Rezaldy 217, Billy Muhammad Islam 209 and it needed anchorman, Hardy Rachmadian to strike home in his final frame to snatch the silver medal for Indonesia with 1086 on a total of 6280.

Thailand downed 1067 for a total of 6278 to clinch the bronze medal, just three pins from silver but crucially beating Malaysia by 39 pins after the host nation stumbled to a lowly 965.

Meanwhile, Malaysia successfully defended the Team title by winning their fifth gold medal of the competition. Esther Cheah, Sin Li Jane, Natasha Roslan, Syaidatul Afifah and Shalin Zulkifli had trailed Philippines by nine pins in the earlier first block.

With Siti Safiyah Amirah replacing Roslan for the second block, Malaysia immediately took over the running with 1099 to move 132 pins ahead of the Filipinas. They added 1078 in the fifth game to stretch their gap further to 204 pins over the Singapore as Philippines slipped down to third.

Malaysia went on to comfortably claim the gold medal with 6264 total. Singapore's Cherie Tan, Daphne Tan, Bernice Lim, New Hui Fen and Shayna Ng ended strongly with 1063 to earn the silver medal with 6203, 61 pins behind the champion.

Philippines' Liza Del Rosario, Alexis Sy, Mardes L. Arles (alternating with Dyan Coronacion), Lara Posadas and Krizziah L. Tabora, who had a 63 pins gap over Indonesia in fourth before the final game, came home third to win the bronze medal with 6075.

"We knew we had built up a comfortable margin over Singapore after the fourth and fifth games," said anchorwomen and Trios gold medallist, Shalin Zulkifli. "We were in a similar position before and we let the gold medal slipped away from us.

"But this time round, we made sure it's not going to happen again and although we didn't finish well, we're glad we hung on to win the fifth gold medal for our country."

Zulkifli finished second in the All Events standings with 6542 from 30 games contested in five eevents. Cherie Tan topped the standings with 6568. Shayna Ng took third spot with 6465. Daphne Tan made the cut for the Masters finals in 16th position with 6024.

Mixed Doubles bronze medallist, Yanee Saebe of Thailand missed the cut by a single pin finishing in 17th position with 6023. All six Malaysian and six Singaporean women made the Masters finals with two Indonesians and two Filipinas making up the top 16.