HONG KONG—Defending women’s singles champion Dorothy Yu lost in a tightly-competed final last Sunday, Nov 6, and missed the chance to become the first women player to defend the title at the Hong Kong International Bowls Classic.
Hong Kong International Yu, who won the first ever women’s Classic Singles for Hong Kong last year, started well in her defending journey. She defeated Michelle Chung from Wahhar Institute of Sports in the first round, and overcame 2014 Classic Pairs champion Sonia Bruce from Philippines and 2016 Asian Championship gold medalist Noorazlinda Zakaria from Malaysia in the following two rounds.
She followed up with wins against local players Queenie Lai and Angela Chau to progress to the final against Malaysian Zuraini Khalid, a silver medalist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
In the first set Yu struggled with the pace of the green and lost by a big margin of 14:1. In the second set Khalid lost a little concentration and Yu pull one back with the score of 10:3.
In the extra set of three ends it was all Khalid as she displayed the consistency required for crucial moments. Yu tried hard to focus on drawing but it was not enough for her to overturn deficit. The end finished 4:0 and Khalid became the third Malaysian lady to win the title.
Despite her lost in the final, Yu is still happy with the results, “Getting to the final has achieved my target so I am satisfied with my performance.”
Yu believed that she should have been doing better in the final though, “I was slow in adapting to the green’s condition in the first set but managed to come back in the second set. In the tie-breaker I should have taken some of the chances but my opponent is very consistence so she won.”
Khalid was very happy to win the singles title in her first Classic appearance, “There were good players and tough games during the course of the competition. I just played my normal game and focused on what I can do. By this I kept my consistence and luckily got the result as well.”
