30th August, Las Vegas: Two-time silver medallist at the 2017 and 2015 World Championships, Cherie Tan defeated topseed and favourite, Maria Rodriguez of Colombia 2-0 in the Masters final match to win Singapore's first gold at the 2019 World Bowling Women's Championships.

Not the best of start in the first best-of-3 match against the Colombian when she failed to convert a four-pin spare in her opening frame. But Tan recovered briliantly with three consecutive strikes for an 8-pin lead.

A crucial spare of the 6-pin split in the fifth frame and a strike following that allowed the Singaporean to peck back after Rodriguez downed a double in the fifth and sixth frames. An unlucky split in the seventh frame from the Colombian swayed the match toward Tan.

Both downed a double in the eighth and ninth frame but Tan went on to roll another double in the tenth frame to edge Rodriguez 203-201 for a 1-0 lead. In the second match, both started on equal footing but Tan upped the pace with four strikes-in-a-row while Rodriguez responded with three of her own.

Rodriguez needed a third match to end the fine run of debutant, Sanna Pasanen of Finland, 2-1 in the other semi-final to face the Singapore southpaw in the final. The Associate Director, Winter and Regional Sports and IF Relations Sports Department of IOC, Ms Irina Gladkikh presented the mdeals and mascots to the Masters winners.

Host Colombia and United States tied on two gold medals each but Rodriguez's silver in the Masters allowed Colombia to emerge as overall champion in the Medal Tally standings. Colombia went home with a medal haul of 2-2-2 while USA picked up 2-1-3.

Sweden and Singapore were the other two countries to win a gold medal each. Sweden went home with 1-2-1 while Singapore only had a gold medal on the final day.

A total of 176 women from 34 countries took part in this year's Women's Championships. The World Senior Championships, which will also be held at South Point Bowling Plaza, will commence on September 2 to 10, 2019.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Las Vegas, USA.