19th December, Bangkok: Philippines successfully defended the Men's Team title at the concluding 33rd SEA Games Bowling Championships defeating host Thailand in the final while Malaysia returned to the top of the podium since the 2017 games with victory in the Women's Team final over Indonesia.

Singles bronze medalist, Mark Jesus San Jose rolled seven consecutive strikes from frame 2, Kenneth Chua also had five bagger, Marc Dylan Custodio shot six-in-a-row and Art Barrientos a turkey to open up a comfortable lead over Thailand's Vilinkorn Kledkaew, Lapasdanai, Supakrit Wantasuk nd Napat Buspanikonkul in the final match.

But the Thai quartet fought back with Vilinkorn leading the charge with four consecutive strikes, Lapasdani three strikes, Supakrit and Napat a double each to close the gap. By the eighth frame, Philippines had a decent 128 pins lead.

Vilinkorn ended ith 222, Lapasdanai 236, Supakrit 203 and Napat 204 for a team total of 865. San Jose finished with 246, Chua 222, Custodio 256 and Barrientos 257 for a sizzling total of 981, erasing the record of 927 set by Malaysia at the Hanoi SEA Games in 2021.

In the Women's division, Singles silver medalist, Natasha Roslan led rookies, Nur Hazirah Ramli and Adania Mohd Redzwan with anchorwomen, Sin Li Jane to defeat third-seed, Alisha Nabila Larasati, Sharon Limansantoso, Putty Armein and Adila Indryati of Indonesia, 817-713.

Natasha shot 226, Nur Hazirah on fire with 245, Adania 146 and Sin 200 while Alisha managed 160, Limansantoso 205, Armein 189 and Indryati 218 losing by 44 pins. Malaysia, who had settled for the silver medal on two previous occasion in 2021 and in 2019, finally broke the ice with this victory.

Indonesia, who took home the silver medal, had earlier upset second-seed Singapore, 835-809 in the second semi-finals match to advance to the final. The champion sailed past host Thailand, 865-817 in the first semi-final match to book their spot in the final.

Singapore emerged as champion in the Women's Medal Tally with a haul of 2-0-2. Malaysia finished second with 1-1-1 and Indonesia third with 0-2-2. Malaysia topped the Men's Medal Tally with a haul of 1-0-3 followed by Philippines in second with 1-0-1. Vietnam took third spot with just 1 gold medal.