Wah Yan College, Kowloon Crowns Inter-school Lawn Bowls Champion

Howard Poon
Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association

Wah Yan College, Kowloon retained the championship at the 3rd Hong Kong Inter-schools Lawn Bowls Competition today (May 16) at Ap Lei Chau Sports Centre.

A total of 14 teams from 10 secondary schools participated in the annual event, which was jointly organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association (HKLBA)

The teams are divided into two groups and played in round-robin format. The top two teams from each group go though to the semi-finals, where the winners go to the final.

The defending champion, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, started the competition with a draw with Raimondi College. The team picked themselves up with three consecutive wins before suffering their first and only defeat at the competition in the hands of Po Leung Kuk C.W.C College Team 1. They finished second in the group and qualified to the semi-finals with group leader Cheung Chuk Shan College.

In the other group, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong won all games and finished as group leader. The other semi-finalist from the group is Yan Oi Tong Chan Wong Suk Fong Memorial Secondary School.

The two Wah Yan Colleges faced each other again in the semi-final, a repeat of the 2009 final and the results remain unchanged. In a one-sided match, the Kowloon side triumph with a convincing score of 9:0. In the other semi-final, Yan Oi Tong Chan Wong Suk Fong Memorial Secondary School defended Cheung Chuk Shan College 8:4 and progressed to the final.

Wah Yan College, Kowloon continued its impressive form in the final, taking seven shots from the first two ends.Yan Oi Tong Chan Wong Suk Fong Memorial Secondary School pull four back in the following two ends but lost a tight shot in the fifth end. Trailing 8:4 in the last end, Yan Oi Tong Chan Wong Suk Fong Memorial Secondary School quickly took a one shot lead but at the end they can only managed to add another shot. The game finished 8:6 and Wah Yan, College Kowloon successfully retain the championship.

In the other playoff, Cheung Chuk Shan College beat Wah Yan College, Hong Kong 5:4 to become the second runners-up.

First organized in 2008, the competition aimed at providing a platform for Hong Kong』s schools to test the ability of their lawn bowls teams. Over the past years, the number of young bowlers has increased substantially, under the large scale HKLBA Youth Development Program. Several schools also arranged regular lawn bowls trainings for their students.

The Wan Yan College, Kowloon team consists of Chan Ka Ming, Wilson Lau Wai Shun and Ken Chan Kwok Kit.

Last Sunday』s competition was sponsored by the Southern District Council.