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Nicole Chia
The “worst thing” that could hap-pen in a 110m hurdles race became a reality for Ang Chen Xiang yester-day, but the national hurdler made the best of the situation to post a na-tional record of 14.25 seconds at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha.
The record is pending ratifica-tion by Singapore Athletics.
Ang had hit the first hurdle hard during the race and he panicked momentarily before regaining his composure to lower his own na-tional mark by 0.01sec.
“I smashed the first hurdle and it flipped... that’s the worst thing you can do in a race because it kills all the momentum that you build in the first seven to eight steps,” said the 24-year-old, who did not qual-ify for today’s final after placing fifth in his heat and 13th overall.
“The first thought that went through my mind was, ‘Oh no’ but, a split second later, I just went on au-
topilot mode and picked myself up. “That’s where the years of com-
peting and training came in, and I continued attacking each hurdle and moving fast.”
It is Ang’s third national record in less than a month. At the March 28-29 Singapore Open Track and Field Championships, he lowered the mark twice in one day – 14.27sec in the heats and 14.26sec in the final.
Recalling that he let out a re-lieved laugh upon seeing that he im-proved a national record by 0.01sec again yesterday, he added: “I know the race was fast because you’re running with the best in Asia and it’s going to be a fast race. I wasn’t sure what time I’d be running be-cause I didn’t know how to factor in the fact that I hit the hurdle hard.”
Ang’s main aim this season is to win a medal at the SEA Games in the Philippines at the end of the year, and yesterday’s performance has given him an extra shot of confi-dence as he knows he can go faster.
“If I hadn’t hit the first hurdle, I
know it would’ve been a (better) time,” said Ang, who starts work as a house officer at the National Uni-versity Hospital on May 2.
“I have to go back and work on my starts again to make sure it’s more consistent, and work on mov-ing faster over the hurdles.
“I’m happy that despite hitting the first hurdle, I was able to pick
myself up and finish the race strong.”
Meanwhile, sprinter Shanti Pereira clocked 23.96sec in the first round of the 200m yesterday. The 22-year-old finished third in her heat but did not qualify for the semi-finals.
Xener Gill
They were trailing in third place, 77 pinfalls behind leaders Raffles Insti-tution (RI) after the first day of the Schools National girls’ A Division bowling quartet final on Monday.
Yesterday, the uphill task facing the Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) bowlers became tougher af-ter RI increased their advantage to
132 pinfalls after the first of three games at Orchid Bowl in Orchid Country Club.
Even though the defending cham-pions narrowed the gap to 117 pin-falls after the second game, it looked like mission impossible to overtake RI in the last game.
Despite the odds being stacked against them, the ACJC quartet of Nicole Lee, Lovelle Lee, Raechel Lim and Karen Tan huddled to-
gether to motivate each other. And, spurred on by their support-
ers, the girls saved their best for last when they outscored RI’s Danika Kaur, Pascal Ching, Valerie Law, Yeo Su Ting 771-628 in the fi-nal game to win by 26 pinfalls and retain their title with a 4,244 total.
Nicole, who earlier won the dou-bles gold with Karen, led the way with 213 pinfalls.
The 16-year-old said: “During the huddle, we made sure that every-one’s mental game was still there.
“We reminded each other to trust in our shots, believe in ourselves and to be there for each other .”
Karen, 18, was delighted to end her schools career with the quartet gold to add to her triumphs in the singles and doubles.
She said: “This year means more to me because it’s my last year bowl-ing in a schools competition. The team fought very hard even though there was a very big gap.
“We wanted to defend our title, but we also knew that our oppo-nents would be stronger this year, so we really had to give our best.”
ACJC’s second quartet team com-prising Jessica Chong, Michelle Soh, Daphne Ang and Samantha Yeo finished third, 206 pinfalls be-
hind their victorious teammates.In the boys’ event, Anglo-Chinese
School (Independent) retained their A Division quartet title. They were also the overall champions.
The quartet of Shaun Wee, Ryan Kwok, Kieran Goh and Lim Jia Wei combined for 4,774 pinfalls over six games to finish ahead of RI (4,537) and ACJC (4,231).
Team captain Shaun, 18, said: “I’m very proud of my team be-cause we showed fighting spirit throughout the competition and we motivated each other through all the events.”
Ryan, 18, agreed, saying: “When the other teams are cheering, it means that they’re doing well.
“We tried to shut that out and, even when we were not doing well, we still continued to cheer for each other as a team to release the ten-sion and stress.”
Laura Chia
Trailing by 243 pinfalls after the first day of the team event, Singa-pore’s girls’ bowling team came from behind to retain their title at the 20th Asian Youth Tenpin Bowl-ing Championships in Kuching, Malaysia, after a “nerve-racking” second block yesterday.
The team – comprising Char-maine Chang, Amabel Chua, Jer-maine Seah and Charlene Lim – hit 4,664 pinfalls to win the gold ahead of South Korea (4,628) and Malaysia (4,617).
Said 18-year-old Amabel: “During the second block, we all knew that there was still hope for us to clinch the gold medal.
“If one of us opens a frame, we will try our best to cover each other. We made sure we threw one shot at a time and focused only on the present. I thought that our fight-ing spirit and perseverance made us what we are today.”
The boys’ team of Brandon Ong, Eugene Yeo, Xavier Teo and Jomond Chia also came from be-hind to clinch the boys’ title with 5,123 pinfalls, after finishing third in the first block on Monday.
The Philippines ended second with 4,996 pinfalls followed by South Korea with 4,979.
Amabel and Brandon also won the girls’ and boys’ all-events title respectively after their perfor-mance throughout the April 17-25 event. Amabel scored 3,652 pin-
falls, ahead of Malaysia’s Gillian Lim (3,609), while Jermaine took the bronze with 3,594 pinfalls.
Brandon had 4,103 pinfalls, fol-lowed by Malaysian Muhammad Hafiz (3,933) and Filipino Merwin Tan (3,860).
National head coach Helmi Chew hailed their performance as “a great lesson in never giving up”.
He said: “It was a wonderful re-sult from both the boys and girls. Fighting from behind today showed lots of grit and character from both teams.”
Earlier in the competition, Bran-don and Jomond clinched the boys’ doubles title with 2,740 pinfalls while Amabel and Charmaine fin-ished third in the girls’ doubles with 2,354.
The girls’ team, along with Bran-don, Jomond and Xavier, also quali-fied for the Masters finals, which will take place today and tomor-row. While winning the all-events title is a confidence booster for Am-abel, she said: “I still have to be fo-cused on doing things that can be
controlled, which is my process, and get it right. The results will come after.”
Singapore are leading the overall medal tally with five golds and two bronzes.
Bowlers pip RI rivals in last game to retain A Div quartet title; ACS(I) take boys’ crown
Doing Singapore proud at the 20th Asian Youth Tenpin Bowling Championships in Kuching, Sarawak are back (from left): Brandon Ong, Eugene Yeo, Jomond Chia and Xavier Teo; and front (from left): Jermaine Seah, Charlene Lim, Charmaine Chang and Amabel Chua. PHOTO: ABF ONLINE
Ang topples 1st hurdle but still sets national mark
Ang Chen Xiang (second from right) hit the first hurdle hard during his 110m hurdles race at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha yesterday but still set a national record of 14.25 seconds. PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHAN LYE YOONG
School sports
ACJC’S BELIEF PAYS OFF
Anglo-Chinese Junior College students cheering at the end of the Schools National A Division bowling finals at Orchid Bowl yesterday. The girls’ team overcame a huge deficit against Raffles Institution to retain their quartet title. The ACJC boys were third. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Shuttlers Danny, Tan fall in first roundMixed doubles pair Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Tan Wei Han, the only Singaporeans in action on the opening day of the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan yesterday, lost to Malaysian fifth seeds Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying 13-21, 22-20, 21-18.
Today, Singapore’s top men’s singles player Loh Kean Yew takes on China’s No. 2 seed Shi Yuqi in the first round.
Celtic football great McNeill dies aged 79LONDON • Former Celtic captain Billy McNeill, who led the “Lisbon Lions” side that became the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967, has died aged 79, his family announced on the football club’s website yesterday.
McNeill, who had dementia for a number of years, spent the whole of his playing career with the Glasgow giants and also went on to manage them for two spells. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Norwich on the brink of promotion to EPLLONDON • Norwich all but confirmed their promotion to English football’s top-flight Premier League with a 2-2 draw at Stoke on Monday.
The Championship leaders, who sit six points above third-placed Leeds United on 88 points, have a +10 goal difference on Marcelo Bielsa’s side with just two games remaining.
A second consecutive defeat for Leeds, who lost 2-0 to Brentford, leaves them facing the prospect of settling for a play-off spot following second-placed Sheffield United’s 3-0 win at Hull. REUTERS
Fowler takes charge at Brisbane RoarMELBOURNE • Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler has been appointed coach of A-League football club Brisbane Roar, taking his first serious management role in the Australian top flight where he enjoyed a two-year stint as a player.
Fowler, who was briefly player-coach of Thai side Muangthong United before retiring in 2012, will take over the struggling Roar from the 2019-20 season on a two-year deal, the club said. REUTERS
Fighting spirit ensures four golds for youth bowlers
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C8 SPORT | THE STRAITS TIMES | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2019 |
