Eight-in-a-row for HKFC Women

HONG KONG—Hong Kong Football Club maintains their dominance in the ladies lawn bowls arena and made history again by winning their eighth consecutive title. The team defeated lowly Filipino Club 8-0 in the penultimate match of the season last Saturday, Oct 18.
Eight-in-a-row for HKFC Women
Wanis Wan (delivering) of the Hong Kong Football Club delivers during her win against Filipino Club’s Alice Ho in the HKLBA Premier League on Saturday Oct 18, 2014. The victory brought HKFC’s ladies team their eighth consecutive title in the top flight. (Stephanie Worth)
10/22/2014
Updated:
11/30/2014

HONG KONG—Hong Kong Football Club maintains their dominance in the ladies lawn bowls arena and made history again by winning their eighth consecutive title. The team defeated lowly Filipino Club 8-0 in the penultimate match of the season last Saturday, Oct 18.

After the game HKFC increased their lead to 14-points over second-placed United Service Recreation Club, who beat Craigengower Cricket Club 6-2. With only one game to play, the point difference was more than enough to secure HKFC’s title.

HKFC captain Camilla Leung, who also captained the team to seven of the last eight titles, was extremely excited about winning the title again: “After we won the title for the seventh consecutive time and broke the record last year, we set a target of winning the title for 10 consecutive years and now we are a giant step closer to our aims.”

The previous record of the longest sequence of winning the title was set nearly 100 years ago when the men’s team of Taikoo Recreation Club won it six times in a row from 1913 to 1919.

The team started nervously in the earlier stage of the competition and dropped some silly points in several games. They were as low as fourth at one stage and the Captain decided to take some actions to rectify the downfall: “I arranged more training and introduced drills to the routines. The team members started to build their confidence once they believed in themselves, nothing can stop us,” she said.

The crucial game came three weeks ago when they played at the home green of the then second placed Shatin Sports Club: “This was a tough game because we were only leading them by six points. If they had beaten us 8-0, it would have been difficult to overtake them. Fortunately we drew with them 4:4 and maintained our lead.”

HKFC won the next three games to secure the title with a game to spare.

Leung believed that the introduction of new players such as Hong Kong international Dorothy Yu and youth international Vivian Yip helped the course of the team: “They added quality to the team and greatly enhanced our confidence. A new sense of unity was created and from then on, we cruised.”

While HKFC were celebrating in jubilance, the Police’s short journey in the top flight ended prematurely as their relegation was confirmed over the weekend. The team was promoted from second division last year and their existence only lasted for one season.

For the second relegation slot it will be a fight between four teams, who were only separated by four points. Interestingly, the last fixtures of the league, which will be played on Nov 1, will feature games between second from bottom team Island Lawn Bowls Club playing against third from bottom Filipino Club, while fourth from bottom Seabird Sports Club will play against fifth from bottom Craigengower Cricket Club.

Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.