10th December, Doha: Korea completed a golden double on the final day of action in the 15th Doha Asian Games at the Qatar Bowling Centre after Jo Nam-Yi and Choi Jin-A won the Men's and Momen's Masters titles with convincing victories in the stepladder finals.

Choi once again found herself battling Esther Cheah of Malaysia for gold, the Korean having beaten her rival to the All Events crown with each bowler certain to claim their fifth medal of the 15th Doha Asian Games.

This time though Cheah, the Singles and Team of Five champion, had no answer to Choi, the Korean winning the two games in the deciding stepladder matches for a total of 482 to claim the title by a massive 85 pins.

Choi took control of the second game with five strikes-in-a-row, while Cheah struggled with consistency. This allowed Choi to claim Korea's fourth masters crown in Games history - more than any other nation.

Win or lose though, both bowlers have joined an elite group of women to have claimed four or more medals at a single Asian Games. Korea's Kim Sook Young heads the tally with six at the 1994 edition in Hiroshima, Japan.

Choi has won two gold, two silver and one bronze while Cheah has two golds and three silver medals. Korea's Kim Yeau-Jin was denied a place in the final by Cheah 215-212 to take the bronze medal - her fourth of these Games.

While Choi was an easy winner in the Women’s Stepladder finals, Jo Nam-Yi had a tougher battle to pick up his first gold medal of the Games and deny defending champion Remy Ong of Singapore, a place in history as the first male to win more than one masters title.

Jo though ultimately enjoyed a golden evening, winning both games to post a total of 455, some 44 pins better than Ong could manage, the Singaporean having prevented another all Korean final by beating Choi Bok Eum 259-195 in the first match.

Ong said afterwards: "This time it was all about team Singapore bringing home gold. I am really proud of my team = thank you Singapore. I'm sorry I could not bring home the gold. "Next time I'll try harder and we'll bring an even stronger team."

Jo and Choi had both preserved their overnight lead in the Masters second block final of the eight head-to-head matches on the short oil to finish top and progress directly to the stepladder finals, where they would meet the winner of the match between the second and third-placed finishers.

Choi topped the Women's scores with a Games record total of 3750, smashing the previous benchmark of 3612 set by 2002 champion Shalin Zulkifli of Malaysia, some 164 pins clear of compatriot Kim Yeau Jin.

Kim beat Choi in her 16th and final match to book her place on the stepladder, just as Malaysia's Singles and Team of Five gold medallist, Esther Cheah did by defeating Putty Insavilla Armein of Indonesia to finish third on 3572.

Like his compatriot, Jo also posted a Games record total of 3805, beating the 3749 mark that saw Ong win gold in 2002, to finish the 16 games some 37 pins ahead of Ong with Choi Bok Eum posting 3689 to enter the medal rounds.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

9th December, Doha: Koreans dominated the first block of the Masters finals as Jo Nam-Yi and Choi Bok-Eum finished 1-2 in the men's division while All Events gold medalist, Choi Jin-A topped the women's field.

Jo Nam-Yi of Korea set a blistering pace at the start of the eight-games first block Masters finals over the long oil condition to take a 10-pin lead over Saudi Arabia's Hassan Al Alshaikh with a 265 plus 10 pin bonus.

As team gold medalist, Toshihiko Takahashi of Japan led for the next two games, Jo regained the lead at the halfway mark by just 11 pins over the Japanese. It was a two way battle between the two until Toshihiko ran out of steam to allow the Korean to maintain the lead right up to the eight and final game.

Jo ended the first block with a total of 1851, winning six out of the eight-game round-robin matchplay finals. Finishing strongly in second was compatriot, Choi Bok-Eum with 1818, thanks to a high game of 277 in the final game.

Choi trailed his teammate by 33 pins in second, just 13 pins ahead of Doubles gold medalist, Hassan Al Alshaikh of Saudi Arabia in third with 1787. Sole Qatari finalist, Saeed Al-Hajri did well to finish fourth with 1774 ahead of Busan Asian Games three gold medalist, Remy Ong fifth on 1771.

Pace-setter, Toshihiko Takahashi dropped to seventh with 1766 behind 2004 Asian Ranked No. 1, Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong in sixth position.

Women's All Events gold medalist, Choi Jin-A gave Korea plenty to cheer as she topped the women's Masters division with a total of 1814, winning five out of eight matches. The lead changed hands four times in the first half of the finals between four finalists.

Chinese Taipei's Tsai Hsin-Yi led in the first game, Korea's Kim Yeau-Jin the second, Malaysia's Esther Cheah third and China's Yang Suiling fourth while Choi was down in the bottom half of the field.

The leader then picked up pace to take over the lead from the fifth game and never looked back to end the block in pole position. Two gold and two silver medalist, Esther Cheah kept her fine form to finish second with 1776, 38 pins adrift.

Women's World Championship Master Gold medalist, Yang Suiling took third spot with with 1771 ahead of Singles silver medalist and current Asian Ranked No. 1, Putty Armein of Indonesia fourth with 1766.

The men and women will bowl another 8 games tomorrow and the top 3 in both the divisions will make the cut for the stepladder grand finals to determine the champions for the two final gold medals of the games.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

8th December, Doha: Japan struck its first Gold medal of the 15th Doha Asian Games on Friday in the Men's Team of Five event with a grand total of 6579 to outshine the favourites, Korea at the end of the second block.

Toshihiko Takahashi's leading their scorers of 1342, helped the Japanese to secure a well deserved victory over Korea, who won silver with 6428. Takahashi together with teammates, Masaaki Takemoto, Tomoyuki Sasaki (althernating with Yoshinao Masatoki), Tomokatsu Yamashita and Masaru Ito fought galantly to snatch the gold.

The Japanese, who was fifth in yesterday's first block and 261 pins adrift going into the second block, posted a record-breaking 1234 to narrow the gap to 187 pins but was still fifth. The quitet continuously challenge for the win with 1136 and 1132 to end the event with a total of 6579.

Toshihiko said: "We wanted to get gold for Japan. The Japanese men's team had won a gold in the Asian Games in Busan and we wanted to repeat the feat. We were watching the scores and we found we were 47 pins ahead

of Korea after the fifth game. It was a narrow margin and we played our best to win gold."

The Koreans, meanwhile found the going tougher and posted 987, 1075 and a disasterous 1028 in their final game to let the gold slipped of their fingers. Choi Bok-Eum, Joung Seong Joo, Byun Ho-Jin (alternating with Park Sang-Pil), Kang Hee-Won and Jo Nam-Yi settled for the silver with 6428.

Saudi Arabia's Hassan Al Alshaikh, Bader Al Alshaikh, Faisal Al Juraifani, Ahmad Saad Al Hdyan and Yousif Akbar surprised the field to storm home in third to snatch the bronze medal with 6349. Singapore missed the podium by just 3 pins finishing fourth with 6346 after a sterling display in the first block.

Bader Abdullah Al Alshaikh capped his second gold medal after the 19-year-old topped the Men's All Events standings with a total of 5482 pins, breaking the Asian Games record of 5304 set by Chester King in 2000. Bader has earlier bagged the gold in the Doubles and bronze medals in the Trios and five player team events.

"I can't describe my feelings - I want to cry, and laugh at the same time. I can't find the words to describe how I'm feeling inside - a week ago I dreamt of getting one medal and now I get four medals and one is the gold in all events. This victory showed me I'm a man his country can trust.

UAE got their second silver in the competition when Nayef Eqab Al Abadla finished second with 5407 while Yannaphon Larpapharat won Thailand's first medal to claim the bronze in the All Events.

Asian Games rules stipulate that only two bowlers from each country are allowed in the Masters finals giving Saeed Al Hajri of Qatar and Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong to make the finals.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

8th December, Doha: Malaysia broke three games record enroute to winning their third Gold medal in the Women's Team of 5 event of the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006 while Japan captured their first in the Men's division late Friday evening.

Esther Cheah, who has won two medals - one gold in the Singles and one silver in the Trios helped Malaysia to win the Women’s Team of 5 crown with a games record 6555 total for a six-game series. Partnering rookie Sharon Koh, Wendy Chai, Zandra Aziela and Shalin Zulkifli, the champions also set a new one-game record of 1223 and a three-games record of 3426.

Going into the second block with a 27-pin advantage, the Malaysian quintet immediately settled down to a blistering pace scoring 1140 to stretch their lead from second-place, Singapore to 179 pins. China, who was second dropped behind the Singaporeans, in third after a poor 998.

Joint-favourites, Korea, who was seventh before the start of the second block, gradually caught up with a record-breaking 1218 in the fifth game to

narrow the gap. With Malaysia's sports minister and her entourage lending support to their team, the leader brought home a 1223 to seal the victory and the team gold.

Korea's Choi Jin-A, Hwang Sun-Ok, Gang Hye-Eun, Kim Yeau-Jin and Nam Bo-Ra settled for the silver medal with 6239 with a strong 1156 in their final game. Jennifer Tan, Cherie Tan, Evelyn Chan, Michelle Kwang and Valerie Teo finished third with 6074 for the bronze medal.

"We're very happy after winning gold today in the team of five. We lost to Korea in the the trios event yesterday and today we beat them in the team," said Cheah, who almost won her third gold but finished second in the All Events to Korea's Choi Jin-A.

Choi's six-games series of 1347 in the Team event gave her a 24-game total of 5339 to win the All Events gold medal while Cheah settled for the silver with 5296. Doubles Gold medalist, Valerie Teo of Singapore took the bronze medal with 5245.

The medals took Cheah's personal haul at games to two gold and two silver medals, the 20 year-old having already become the first Malaysian to win the Women's Singles and then claimed silver in the Women's Trios prior to the team event.

Choi won her fourth medal of the games after having also won silver in the Doubles and bronze in the Trios earlier in the week. Teo also collected her third medal with the bronze, the Singaporean having also won the Doubles with Michelle Kwang.

Asian Games rules stipulate that only two bowlers from each country are allowed in the Masters finals giving Liza del Rosario (PHI), Angkana Netvriseth (THA), Happy Soediyono (INA), Yuka Tsuchiya (JPN), Zhang Yuhong (CHN) and Tsai Hsin-Yi (TPE) to make the finals.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

7th December, Doha: Records tumbled as Korean men and Malaysian women led the first block of three games in the Team of Five event of the 15th Doha Asian Games at Qatar Bowling Centre on Thursday.

Korea's Choi Bok-Eum, Joung Seoung-Joo, Park Sang-Pil, Kang Hee-Won and Jo Nam-Yi set a cracking pace at the start of the first block Team of 5 over long oil condition and almost broke the one game record of 1137 set by their teammates in Busan, Korea in 2002, to take an early lead.

Singapore was the nearest opponent who could match the Korean's pace with 1049 followed closely by UAE in third with 1021 with Indonesia and Saudi Arabia matching Singapore's and UAE's pace. Host nation, Qatar and favourite, Malaysia was slow off the mark down the field.

While the leader continued with another superb 1107 in their second game, Malaysia put in their charge to post a scintilating 1182, smashing the 2002 Games record by a mile and moving them up to second behind the Koreans.

In the final and third game, the Korean quintet knocked down another fine 1099 to end the block with 3338 and a 219 pin margin. Qatar's Bandar Al-Shafi, Mubarak Ali Al-Muraikhi, Ahmed Shaheen, Abdulla Al-Qattan and Saeed Al-Hajri in second with 3119.

Korea also set a three-game Games record of 3228 set by the Japanese in 2002 as Philippines, Saudi Arabia both finished strongly for third and fourth with 3114 and 3096 respectively. Malaysia fizzled out slightly to fifth spot with 3092.

The pace in the women's division was less intense with favourites, Malaysia grabbing the lead with 3129 on lines of 984, 1105 and 1040. Trios silver medalist, Esther Cheah, Zandra Aziela and Shalin Zulkifli, joined by Sharon Koh and Wendy Chai ended the first block with a 27-pin margin over China in second.

China's Zhang Chunli, Yang Suiling, Zhang Yuhong, Shen Yuye and Xu Lan, who took over the lead after the second game from the pace-setter, Philippines, settled for second with 3102 while Chinese Taipei finished third with 3072.

The Filipinas just could not maintain their pace and dropped to fourth with 3070, just 2 pins from the Taiwanese quintet. Indonesia and Singapore took fifth and sixth spots with 3045 and 3035 respectively.

The strong Korean women failed to make an impression ending in a disappointing seventh position with 2907 ahead of Japan in eighth on 2862. Both the women and men will continue their second block over short oil condition on Friday, December 8.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

6th December, Doha: The trios of Daniel Lim, Ben Heng and Aaron Kong slayed several demons at the Qatar Bowling Centre Wednesday night to deliver Malaysia's second gold medal in the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006.

It was the first men's Asian Games gold since 1978 and the first medal won since the 1994 edition in Hiroshima. Daniel Lim, Ben Heng and Aaron Kong never let go of their overnight lead as they displayed awesome consistency and team spirit to score 4089 pinfalls in the six-game series.

"We didn't do it as individuals. We did it as a team and that is why we won the gold," said an ecstatic Ben. "We came to Doha targeting the team gold medals and I'm glad that we have taken one now. "Our strength in the trios was our consistency. We kept on plugging away and whenever the chips were down, we motivated each other."

Ben totalled the team's highest six-games series of 1374 total while Daniel contributed 1323 and Aaron 1392. In fact, the Malaysian trio had virtually confirmed the gold medal in the afternoon as they bowled in the first block but had to wait till the second block was completed before being confirmed as champions.

"I can't believe my luck. This is my first Asian Games and I have won a gold medal. I owe it all to my teammates for they kept on motivating me," said Aaron, at 21, the baby of the team. "Having taken the gold, we're determined to not stop. The team is raring to go for the team event."

The Malaysian joy was somewhat diluted by the near-miss of the second team, who staged a magnificent fightback from their overnight position to come within a whisker of taking a medal.

But it was not to be as Azidi Ameran, Alex Liew and Zulmazran Zulkifli settled for fourth with 3852, 19 pins behind Saudi Arabia's Hassan Al Alshaikh, Faisal Al Juraifani and Bader Al Alshaikh.

Singapore's Lee Yu Wen, Jason Yeong and Remy Ong took the silver with 3985. But the lanes belonged to the Malaysian trio of Daniel, Ben and Aaron and they deserved all the adulation they received.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

6th December, Doha: Korea's trio of Nam Bo-Ra, Kim Hyo-Mi and Hwang Sun-Ok secured the Women’s Trios crown in the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006 with a record-breaking performance at the Qatar Bowling Centre on Wednesday afternoon.

The Korean trio went into the final session in the lead and posted a grand total of 3983, setting a new Games record for a six-game series. Kim, Hwang and Nam also set Games records for a one-game of 753 and three-game series of 2051.

"We're very happy and comfortable about the leading score, but we tried to concentrate on the game only, not the score, because nobody knows what will happen in the game," Nam said after securing the victory.

Women's Singles Gold medallist, Esther Cheah teamed up with Zandra Aziela and Shalin Zulkifli to claim the silver medal for Malaysia with their total of 3973. Zulkifli had won the bronze medal four years ago in Busan with a Sarah Yap and Wendy Chai.

The bronze medal also went to the second Korean trio of Choi Jin-A, Gang Hye- Eun and Kim Yeau-Jin posting a total of 3940, a comfortable 56 pins clear of the Singaporean trio of Tan Bee Leng, Michelle Kwang Tien Mei and Valerie Teo Hui Ying.

Korea have had to wait until the fourth day of the bowling championship for their first gold medal, which Nam admitted had been a cause of concern. However she now hopes this medal will be the first of many to come.

"It came much later than expected, which worried the Korean delegation so much. I think it's partly because players from other countries have improved a lot, and partly because we were a little bit unlucky," added Nam. "But the most important events are trios and team of five. So we're happy we won one of the events and will do our best to clinch the gold medal in the other.

"We have both men's and women's team of five and masters ahead of us as well. I believe today's gold medal will work as a great boost to our morale in our bid to win more gold medals."

Kim, Hwang and Nam had gone into the final three-game block leading by only 13 pins from the Malaysia trio and this increased rapidly before their rivals fought back only to see their efforts fall short with the last couple of balls.

"We started 13 pins behind, then after the second game we were down 80 pins but we fought very well and caught up to get even until the last game, but our best was not enough to bring us gold," Esther Cheah said.

Zulkifli added: "I didn't know until the last game that we were going for the gold ... I just thought to go for the maximum. All of us came here to win the game - getting silver makes us more determined for tomorrow's team of fives."

It could have been a day to really celebrate, the trio of Shalin Zulkifli, Esther Cheah and Zandra Aziela having taken the women's silver, had the second men's trio of Azidi Ameran, Alex Liew and Zulmazran Zulkifli clinched the bronze they came so agonisingly close to. But the gold would certainly have brought cheer to the Malaysian contingent.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

5th December, Doha: Malaysia's trio of Daniel Lim, Ben Heng and Aaron Kong hung on to a slender lead of 9 pins from Philippines in the first block of the Men's Trios on day 3 of the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006.

Joung Seoung Joo, Park Sang Pil and Jo Nam Yi set a cracking pace in the first game with a high game of 683 from the Malaysian trio, who posted a superb 665 in second and Philippines' Paeng Nepomuceno, Tyrone Ongpauco and Chester King in third with 654.

Malaysia then fired another impressive score of 704 in game 2 to take over the lead with Singapore putting in their challenge with 700 to trail the leader. Philipppines continued to trail with 641 while Korea dropped to third with 623.

Despite Daniel Lim suffering a poor 161 in the third game, teammates, Ben Heng and Aaron Kong brought home 268 and 200 respectively to provide sufficient cover for Lim ending with 629 and maintaining the lead at the end of the first block.

Malaysia topped the block with 1998 followed by Philippines with 1989, thanks to a high game from Nepomuceno's 298 in the final game. Squad 1 leader, Toshihiko Takahashi, Yoshinao Masatoki and Masaaki Takemoto of Japanm settled for third a further 8 pins from the Filipinos on 1981.

Korea dropped to fourth with 1946 followed by Singapore's Lee Yu-Wen, Jason Yeong-Nathan and Remy Ong in fifth with 1941. With only less than 60 pins separating the top 5, the field is wide open as they continue their second block tomorrow.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

5th December, Doha: Korea's Kim Hyo-Mi, Hwang Sun-Ok and Nam Bo-Ra pipped Malaysia for the lead in the first block of the Women's Trios in the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006 at Qatar Bowling Centre.

Korea's other trio of Choi Jin-A, Gang Hye-Eun and Kim Yeau-Jin took an early lead with a convincing 683 as the women took to the lanes at Qatar Bowling Centre on day 3 of the tenpin bowling championship.

Malaysia's trio comprising of Singles Gold medalist, Esther Cheah, Zandra Aziela and anchored by four-time Asia Bowler of the Year, Shalin Zulkifli followed closely with a superb 674 while Singapore was third scoring 646.

A scintillating 753 by Hyo-Mi, Sun-Ok and Bo-Ra in the second game propelled them to the top of the field but just only 3 pins ahead of the Malaysians, who also posted an impressive 713. The other Korean trio dropped to third after a lowly 622.

With only 3 pins separating the top 2, the leader fired another strong 661 to maintain the lead and despite Malaysia coming home with a strong 651, the Korean kept the lead with a first block total of 2051.

Malaysia settled for second, just 13 pins adrift on a total of 2038 while the other Korean trio finishing third with 1918. Doubles Gold medalist, Michelle Kwang and Valerie Teo partnering Jennifer Tan did well to take up fourth spot with 1900.

China surprised the field with a fifth place finish on 1900 while Indonesia's Tannya Roumimper, Happy Soediyono and Singles Silver medalist, Putty Armein took sixth spot with 1853.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

4th December, Doha: The Al Alshikah brothers won Saudi Arabia's first tenpin bowling gold medal as the West Asian countries swept the podium positions of the Men's Doubles of the 15th Doha Asian Games on Monday evening.

Hassan Abdullah Al Shaikh, 16 and Bader Adullah Al Shaikh, 19 made history by winning thier country's first-ever Asian Games gold medal with their victory in the Men’s Doubles. The brothers posted a team total of 2821, a new Asian Games record for a 6-game series, to take the gold medal with hosts Qatar and the United Arab Emirates sharing the silver with totals of 2782.

This was the first time in any bowling event in Asian Games history that countries from West Asia have swept the podium. It was also only the fifth sport, the others being athletics, equestrian, cycling and weightlifting and seventh time overall that this has happened at the Games.

Bowling is now the third sport that Saudi Arabia have won gold medals in at the Asian Games. The others being athletics with seven in 2002 and shooting back in the 1994 edition.

Hassan, the youngest of the brothers at 16 years old, was humbled by their victory, saying: "I can't describe my feeling, but I thank my God that I am getting this medal. I wish to raise the flag for my country. The road to raise that flag has been very, very difficult. Now I wish to compete at the same level in another event in this Asian Games."

"We did normal in the first two games," said the younger brother, Bader. "Then our coach gave us some tips, and we managed to get strikes after strikes. We're really happy to win the first-ever gold medal for our country.

However these were not the only records to fall in the competition with Malaysia's Alex Liew Kien Liang and Heng Boon Hian also setting a new Games record of 522 for a one-game series, which was later raised to 537 by UAE's Nayef Eqab Al Abdala and Jamal Ali Mohammad.

In their record-breaking final game, Nayef Eqab rolled the championship's first perfect game of 300 in the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006, but it was not enough to deny the Al Shaikh brothers their historic victory. Abdulla Al Qattan and Saeed Al Hajri brought Qatar's first medal sharing the silver.

Saudi Arabia coach Mario John Joseph said: "I hope that in the future the brothers and all the youths will have good results. They are the future of bowling in the Kingdom. Before we came here, we had hoped for any medal. The gold makes us so proud.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

4th December, Doha: Singapore's Michelle Kwang Tien Mei and Valerie Teo Hui Ying won the Women's Doubles gold medal of the 15th Doha Asian Games setting a new record for a 6-game series of 2671 pinfalls at Qatar Bowling Centre on Monday evening.

Teo, who posted the second highest individual 6-game series of the day with 1407, partnered Kwang to finish with a total of 2671, breaking the 12-year-old record of of 2607 set by Japan's Tomomi Shibata and Naoko Sekine to take gold by 61 pins.

Teo had lines of 235, 242, 279, 224, 187 and 240 while Kwang knocked down 217, 202, 206, 213, 201 and 225. The same combination also won them the gold medal in the 2004 Asian Youth Championship in Hong Kong when Teo scored a perfect game of 300 in her final game.

Korean pair Choi Jin A and Kim Yeau Jin also bettered the previous record but had to settle for silver with Maki Nakano and Kanako Ishimine of Japan taking the bronze with a total of 2598, as matches continued into the early hours of Tuesday. Ishimine had the best average at 250.3, but Gang Hye

Eun bowled the second perfect 300 game in the competition and the first by a woman at the 15th Asian Games to date.

However, Gang and partner Name Bo Ra finished fifth with a total of 2568 behind Singapore's second pair of Jennifer Tan Bee Leng and Cherie Tan Shi Hua in fourth, missing the medal just 16 pins.

Singles Gold medalist, Esther Cheah could not add the Doubles crown to the singles gold medal she won on Sunday when she and partnered Shalin Zulkifli to post only 2533, good enough to finish in eighth place.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

3rd December, Doha: Ryan Leonard Lalisang recorded Indonesia's first gold medal of the 15th Doha Asian Games and his country's first-ever Asian Games gold medal in the Men’s singles at the Qatar Bowling Centre late Sunday evening.

The 26-year-old making his Asian Games debut, headed a huge field of 114 bowlers by scoring consistently throughout the 6-games event and setting a new Asian Games record for one game with a near perfect score of 299 in second game en-route to totalling 1442 yet another Games record.

After a most start in first game with a score of 200, Lalisang found the perfect range with his remarkable score in Game 2 to take an early lead. With 245 and 259 in games 3 and 4, ending with 213 and 226 was sufficient to top Squad 1 and take the gold.

UAE's 2005 West Asian Games silver medallist, Mahmood Ahmed Al-Attar kept in close contact with the Indonesian, but fell away in the last two games with scores of 221 and 200 to finish with a bronze medal, behind Korea's 19-year-old Choi Bok Eum, who stormed through with a late surge to record scores of 248 and 258 in games 5 and 6 for the silver.

Lalisang's record total of 1442 worked out at an average score of 240.3 per game, while Choi finished with 1419 (236.5 average) and Al Attar 1401 (233.5) average. The Indonesian's score surpassed Filipino Virgilio Sablan's score of 290 for one game and Thailand's Kritchawat Jampakao six game record score of 1408, both set in Bangkok 1998.

Still somewhat in shock after his victory, Lalisang said: "Even though I am not sure yet about winning the gold I'm very satisfied and very happy since this is my first time competing in the Asian Games.

"During the first game I changed my line and angle for the last four shots and my coach instructed me to move more to the right to bowl. I found a good condition during the second game and that is why I got the highest score. I'm really glad and hopeful that nobody can beat that," said Lalisang before Squad 2 took to the lanes.

Silver medallist Choi was eqully delighted with his performance and remarked: "It was a blessing from God, first of all. The second reason was that my coaches have made me feel more confident and relaxed on the lanes. They've been telling me to be confident and not to lose my self-confidence.

"This is my first Asian Games and the biggest victory I have had so far. My second biggest thrill was winning a Trios silver medal in the 2006 Men's World Championships," added Choi.

Bowling continues on Monday, 4th December with the Men’s Doubles competition, where some changes to the line-ups have been made. For Singapore, Carl Jan De Vries will now team up with Lionel Lim Guo Liang Lionel starting at 9.00am. Jason Yeong-Nathan will bowl with Ng Qenn Shaun at 1.00pm.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's Men's Singles champion, Lalisang will bowl with Rudy Goenawan at 1.00pm squad and Hengki Hengki will partner Haqi Rumandung at 9.00am squad. The Women's Doubles will be held later in the day.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

3rd December, Doha: Reigning Women's World Championship 2005 Singles Gold Medalist, Esther Cheah put up a record breaking performance to deliver the first Gold for Malaysia in the 15th Doha Asian Games at Qatar International Bowling Centre.

Esther, daughter of National Chief Coach Holloway, displayed tremendous determination to win the gold despite of a muscle cramp after the fifth game. Team physio, Rosnah had to treat Esther's bowling hand after each shot to reduce her pain in the final game.

"I was so worried that Esther might not be able to continue after the third frame in the last game. She had a split but her finger just cramped and Rosnah had to pull hard to get the fingers back to her normal position," said the very proud father, Holloway. "I wasn't able to do anything except to pray. I'm glad Eshter was able to get through it."

"I'm very happy that I'm able to win the first Gold for Malaysia," said Esther during the press interview. I did not expect to win a gold in the Singles, but after the fifth game I knew I had a chance.

Esther started well with 243 and repeated the same score in the second game then followed by 213, 258 and 233. The champion need a 205 or more final game to secure the win and ended in style with another high game of 254 for a new 6-game record of 1444. The scores erased the old record of 1374 set by Lee Mi-Young of Korea in 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

First Squad leader, Putty Armein of Indonesia settled for Silver with 1395 and 16-year-old Angkana Netrviseth of Thailand took the Bronze with 1331. Just three pins adrift was Ishimine Kanako of Japan in fourth place, and Singapore's Jennifer Tan rounded up top five another 10 pins behind.

The Men's Singles divided into two squads will commence in the afternoon.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.

30th November, Doha: Officials of the 19 nations attended the Team Managers' Meeting when lane draws were conducted for all the events of the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006 which will commence on the December 3 at the newly-refurbished Qatar International Bowling Centre.

A total of 13 women team and 19 men team will be pitched against each other as the 15th Doha Asian Games kicks off in the next few days. Conducting the lane draw at the team managers meeting were Mr Steve Hontiveros, President of FIQ and Mr Abu Salam Abbas, Vice President of WTBA when the lane assignments for the players were determined for the Singles, Doubles, Trios and Team of 5 events.

The Technical Committee appointed for the championship are Mr John Frost of Kegel Company, Inc., Dr Danny Santos, FIQ Secretary General and Mr Abdul Salam Abbas, Vice President of WTBA. The Jury of Appeal appointed by Mr Heikki Sarso, WTBA President are Mr Sidney Tung, VP of ABF, Mr Khohei Akagi, Hon. Life President of WTBA and President of Japan Bowling Congress and Mr Salman Abdulla Abdul Ghani, VP of ABF.

The first official practice session was held earlier in the morning and the second session will take place on the December 2nd. The official games grand opening will be held at the main stadium on December 1st.

Tournament proper will commence on December 3rd starting with the Women's Singles over short oil in one squad in the morning while the Men's will be divided into two squads in the afternoon. Daily live scores will be featured at this website.

Photos by Sidney Tung, MTBC.