HONG KONG—The local lawn bowls community witnessed a new champion in the Hong Kong Inter-schools Lawn Bowls Competition on Tuesday May 6 at the Ap Lei Chau Sports Centre.
Sacred Heart Canossian College, entering the competition for the third consecutive year, sent a strong team comprised of three Hong Kong Youth Team members to achieve the desired result on the Buddha Birthday holiday. They defeated Po Leung Kuk CW Chu College in the Final to lift the title.
A total of 24 teams from 12 secondary and two primary schools participated in the annual two-wood triples event, which is jointly organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association (HKLBA), with sponsorship from the Southern District Council.
For the secondary school competition, the 18 teams were divided into six groups and played in round-robin format. The top teams from each group plus two best second go through to the Quarter Finals.
Sacred Heart Canossian College (SHCC), skipped by Tiffany Lau with support from Rella Choy and Nicole Muk, won four of the five games in the two group stages and face Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Secondary School in the Semi-Finals. It was a tight contest and SHCC needed to take seven shots from the last three ends to win the game 16:13.
In the other section, Po Leung Kuk CW Chu College (PLKCWC), the champion of the inaugural tournament seven years ago, edged out the defending champion Yan Chai Hospital No 2 Secondary School 15:12 and progressed to the Final.
PLKCWC started the Final with great confidence because they had beaten SHCC in the earlier group stage. They were in the driving seat until the ninth end when a sudden loss of concentration cost them five shots. From then on it was all downhill for PLKCWC and they never recovered from the five shots lost. The game ended 23:18 and SHCC won their first ever Inter-School title.
Skipper Tiffany Lau attributed their success to the fact that all three members worked as a team during the games, “Despite we played quite well in most of the games, it is important that we support each other throughout. When you know that someone is backing you up, your confidence grew and the performance just came.”
For the Primary School competition, Lutheran Tsang Shing Siu Leun School topped the table after the roundrobin against all other teams to become champions. The runners-up were the True Light Middle School of Hong Kong (Primary Section).
First organised in 2008, the competition aimed at providing a platform for Hong Kong’s schools to test the ability of their lawn bowls teams. This is the first time the competition was divided into the Primary and Secondary School sections.
