The dream of having the first ever “All Youth Team Final” at a premier competition was over when only one of the youngster teams prevailed victorious at the Semi-Finals of the National Fours competition.
The semi-finals played last Sunday May 18 at Craigengower Cricket Club, saw two Youth Teams in action, one against Kowloon Bowling Green Club (KBGC) and the other against Club de Recreio (CdeR).
The team playing CdeR comprised of Jason Tsang, Alan Yuen, Kevin Chan and Jason Choi defeated another Youth Team skipped by Simpson Chang in the Quarter-Finals in the morning and progressed to the Semi-Final against a CdeR skipped by Edward Hung.
The CdeR team started brightly opened up a lead of 8:2 after just five ends. The lead was further extended to 13:5 after 10 ends.
In the 11th end the Youth Team took a shot and got the right to deliver the jack. They made a decision to change the tactics to play a short head. The strategy worked well and they took six shots in the following two ends to cut the deficit to one shot.
Both teams hung on till the last end, when they were holding each other at 16:16. The front men of the Youth Team drew two brilliant shots and skipper Choi’s blocker also worked well. The game finished at 18:16 when the CdeR skipper’s last shot hit the blocker and failed to change the head.
Choi was relieved after winning the game, “This was a hard game. At the beginning our opponents were not playing particularly well but we were even worse. We calmed down a bit after the 10th end and started to think about changing the tactic. I am glad that it worked in our favour,” he confided
In the other Semi-Final, the Youth Team skipped by Adrian Yau lost 24:15 to the KBGC team, despite leading the game in the first few ends.
The Final between the Youth Team and KBGC will be held at the Finals Day on July 6 at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, where a number of Finals for various competitions will also be played on the same day.
Choi, who has never won a premier title, will also be engaged in the Final of the Novice Pairs on the Finals Day. “It is tough to play two finals in one day, especially when both of them are important to me. I will do some physical training to ensure my stamina on the day,” Choi explained.
Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
