Hong Kong Football Club players Derek Wyllie, Rita Shek and Wanis Sze have a miserable day they all want to forget at the Finals Day on Sunday, July 3.
All three players engaged in two finals on the day but lost both of them.
They were both involved in the National Fours in the morning and Wyllie played the National Pairs in the afternoon, while Shek and Sze quested for the National Triples title. But at the end they all went home emptyhanded.
Wyllie partnered with clubmates Kenny Tam, Terry Kung and CT Wong to play against James Po, Tsang Man Lung, Adrian Yau and Jason Choi from the Youth Team. It was a one-sided affair as the youngsters dominated from the first end. At one stage the boys were leading with a big margin of 19:5 and despite a late surge from the HKFC players, they still won the game 21:12.
Coincidently, Shek and Sze faced the same fate in their women National Fours final against Tseung Kwan O Bowling Club. They were totally dominated by their opponent and at the end defeated by the same scoreline as Wyllie’s team. Their lost also marked the first ever national title for TKOBC, since their establishment in 2011.
In the National Pairs final in the afternoon, Wyllie partnered with Craigengower Cricket Club member Robin Chok to represent Hong Kong Jockey Club and play against a CCC team of Imen Tang and Stanley Lai. It was a tight game and the scores were tied three times during the course of the match.
Into the last end, CCC was holding four shots on board. When both skippers were left with their last bowl, CCC was holding one shot on green but HKJC has three seconds. Wyllie played his last bowl heavily, hit one of his bowl in front of the head to take out CCC’s shot to hold four.
Lai held his nerve to deliver his last bowl. It stopped about 1M behind the jack and looked like it was the fifth shot. When the player proceeded to the head, the bowl fell in slow motion towards the jack and became the fourth shot. The game finished 16:15.
Wyllie was obviously disappointed after the long day, “The Pairs final was a very close game and could go either way. I played reasonable well but definitely not my best so I can’t say I deserved to win any of those. When you get to a national final the opponents are going to be good and Lai probably deserved to win that one.
“For the game against the Youth Team, I think HKLBA should take great credit on developing those kids. They are really good for the future.”
Lai believed that their ability to adapt quickly to the green situation won them the title, “This is a tight game and all four of us played quite well. Our adaptability allowed us to quickly settle into the game and I am glad that we can maintain it until the end.” This title is particularly sweet for Lai as this represented the first team title he won. Lai won the National Singles twice in 2011 and 2014.
In addition to the National Pairs, Lai’s partner Imen Tang also won the mixed fours in the morning.
Shek and Sze were engaged in a much tighter game against Kowloon Cricket Club in the National Triples final in the afternoon. They were tied on four occasion and despite the HKFC trio being always behind, they were only trailing their opponents by one shot with three ends to go. However, no matter how much effort they put in it was not enough to overturn the deficit and the game finished 19:16.
Claudius Lam is an officer of the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
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