Hong Kong registered their worst ever results at the Asia Pacific Merdeka Championship in Malaysia after finished bottom in two of the four disciplines.
Entitled the 9th Sime Darby Asia Pacific Merdeka Singles, Mixed Pairs & Mixed Fours Indoor Bowls Championship 2014, the regional competition started on Sunday, Sept 28 and finished on Saturday, Oct 4. A total of 10 strong bowling countries in the region participated in the event, which included the host Malaysia, Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
The participating teams were divided into two groups in the round robin stage, with the top teams qualifying directly for the semi-finals and the second and third teams of each group engaged in playoffs.
Hong Kong followed its former practise of sending the finalists of the National Indoor Singles to this tournament and the squad included champion Stephen Chan and Celena Kwok, plus Chow Kin Hoi and Tammy Tham.
Of the four representatives from Hong Kong, only Kwok is a current Hong Kong squad member, but Tham has the most experience with the tournament, winning a silver (2011) and a bronze (2010) in the singles.
Chan and Kwok played in the singles and both registered two wins and four defeats. Chan finished 6th out of a group of seven, while Kwok finished 5th.
In the Mixed Pairs, Tham partnered with Chow and only managed a single victory against Singapore. They lost the other four games and finished bottom.
The four players then joined together for the Mixed Fours competition, but failed to register even one victory. They only got a draw against the Australians, but lost the other three. The team finished bottom of the group.
Coach Danny Ho was obviously not happy: “We were disappointed by the results the team have achieved. The average team performance was far from expectation. Maybe the players are not psychologically ready for this level of competition, they just did not demonstrate the consistency required.
“Despite the fact that the team was very co-operative and worked as a team, they needed to improve a lot in certain areas, such as concentration, self-confidence, basic skills, handling pressure and consistency,” concluded Ho.
According to Heron Lau, the HKLBA Vice-President in charge of international events, this will be the last time the National Indoor Singles finalist is automatically selected for the tournament: “From next year onward the representatives will be selected from the Hong Kong squad. This will provide a better choice for us and offers exposure to different types of competitions for the Hong Kong team members”.
First organised in 2006 to celebrate the opening of the Bayuemas Indoor Bowls Stadium in Kota Bayuemas, Malaysia, the Asia Pacific Merdeka Indoor Bowls Championship has developed into one of the key indoor bowls events in the region.
Final results of the Championship are: Men’s Singles—Benjamin Twist (Australia); Women’s Singles—Siti Zalina Ahmad (Malaysia): Mixed Pairs—Malaysia; and Mixed Fours—Malaysia.
Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
