Christopher Tiong displays the gold medal he won in the Men’s Masters in the recent 29th Asian Intercity Bowling Championship in Kuching. — Photo by Teo Chi Wei
KUCHING: National youth kegler Christopher Tiong Lee Siong has come of age for Sarawak’s Sukma bowling challenge, following his excellent golden run at the recent 29th Asian Intercity Bowling Championship.
Christopher, who represented Kuching City North team, helped his team to finish second in the 15-team competition at Megalanes Adventure World from Nov 9-16 with three gold, 11 silver and four bronze medals, by bagging two golds and one silver.
The 18-year-old Swinburne University student’s gold medals were won in the Men’s Masters and Men’s Doubles while the silver was won in the Men’s All-Events, which was certainly a big breakthrough for him.
“Yes, I feel very happy to have beaten Joseph (Emmanuel Ang) in the Masters final. It was not easy and I reckon it was my mental strength that pulled me through,” said Christopher.
He surprised even himself as he did not expect to win but was aiming for the top four finish in the Masters. It was also his best achievement this year after winning a bronze in the team event at the Asian Youth Bowling Championship in Hong Kong, fourth place in the Pbap Youth Open in Philippines and third in the team event of the Interstate Team Championship this year.
In fact, he nearly lost to Park Min Su in the semifinals as the South Korean had strung seven strikes in the second game but Christopher kept his cool to score 289 pinfalls against his opponent’s 229 pinfalls. He had won the first game 227-181.
“When I won in the semi-finals, my confidence grew and I put all my focus in the final. This is also the first time that I have played in such a format.
“I didn’t do too well in competitions earlier this year but after I returned to Sarawak in July, my game improved greatly under the guidance of my coach Jackson Ting,” he admitted.
Christopher is hoping to maintain his form and do well in his next assignments – the International All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur and Penang Pesta.
Prior to next July’s Sukma XVIII, Tiong is eyeing exposure with six competitions, one in Australia in January, Singapore Open, Thailand Open, Malaysian Open and the Interstate and National Closed.