About 120 para bowlers from ten countries – Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore – have been confirmed to participate in the upcoming Micron Singapore World Para Bowling Tour Series 2019. This is a significant increase from 56 athletes at the 2018 inaugural edition.
Besides the growth in contenders, the battleground seems all set to get fiercer with a number of Asian Para Games 2018 gold medalists joining the action. These include Lee Chia-Chieh (TPB8) from Chinese Taipei, Shin Baek Ho (TPB8) from the Republic of Korea, Abu Bakar Nyat (TPB9) from Malaysia, Kin Ian Tan Chi (TPB10) from Philippines, and Elsa Maris (TPB4) from Indonesia.
About 13 bowlers from Singapore will be competing, including Diane Neo (TPB4), Asian Para Games 2018 silver medalist. “I hope to get another medal to bring pride to Singapore and my parents, who are my best supporters,” shared Diane.
Two local para bowlers will be making their debut at the World Series next week – 21-year-old Siti Nurhamizah Bte Hamzah (TPB4), a teacher’s assistant at the School of Concepts and 47-year-old Low Chang Hong (TPB9), a Mathematics lecturer at Eunoia Junior College. Both have been selected to represent Singapore at the 2020 Asean Para Games, to be held in January.
“We expected a higher number of participants but the response has taken us by surprise. This goes to show the growing popularity and standards in para bowling, and we are proud that Singapore has been able to play a pioneering role in this landscape, with the support of Micron Foundation. Being able to host this tournament has also given us a privilege to help more local para bowlers gain invaluable competition exposure which would not otherwise be possible,” said Ms Kelly Fan, Executive Director, SDSC.
The event, to be held from 24 to 27 July 2019, will offer Singles, Doubles, Trios and Masters titles. Teams will start to arrive on 22 July for training and classification.
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