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HONG KONG TENPIN BOWLING CONGRESS
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Established in 1968, the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress Limited is committed to the development and promotion of tenpin bowling activities. Since 1975, the Congress staged the Hong Kong International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships annually. In 1978, the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress was recognized by the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong China as an associate member and from then on the Congress could participate in multi-sports Games under the National Olympic Committee. In the same year, tenpin bowling was included as a medal sport for the first time in the 8th Asian Games in Bangkok. Our Congress sent a team of 3 women bowlers and 6 men bowlers to participate in the Games and came back with one silver and two bronze medals. The Silver Medal was won by Abdoul Akber and Francis Kam in the Men Doubles event. Vivien Fung, Cathrine Che and Maria Chong won a Bronze Medal in the Ladies Trios event and Cathrine Che also won a Bronze Medal in the Ladies Singles event. In 1986, the Hong Kong bowling team participated in the 10th Asian Games in Seoul, Korea and Cathrine Che won the “First Gold” for Hong Kong since it participated in the Asian Games in 1952, carving a milestone in the history of Hong Kong sport. After winning the Gold Medal in the Ladies Singles event, Catharine Che continued to clinch a Silver Medal in the Ladies Masters event. In the same year, the Congress became an ordinary member with voting right of Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong China.
In 1988, Hong Kong hosted the 10th FIQ Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships and attained one Gold Medal in the Ladies Singles and one Silver Medal in the Men Doubles. In 1992, in Perth, Australia, in the 12th FIQ Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships, the Hong Kong team bagged two Gold Medals in the Ladies Trio and Ladies All Events respectively and one Silver Medal in the Ladies Singles and one Bronze Medal in the Men Doubles. The Ladies Team broke the Asian record in the Ladies Trios and the Ladies All Events. In 1998, the Hong Kong bowling team participated in the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok and Sunny Hui won a Gold Medal in the Men Masters, carving another milestone in the history of bowling in Hong Kong. Tenpin bowling became a Focus Sport in 1999. With extra funding from the Hong Kong Sports Development Board, the Congress was able to engage a full-time overseas coach and in 2000, Janet Lam won a Gold Medal in the 15th FIQ Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Qatar. Sunny Hui became number one bowler in the world ranking after winning the World Bowling Masters held in UAE in April 2001. One month later, he won a Gold Medal in the Men Doubles event partnering Wu Siu Hong in the 3rd East Asian Games in Osaka. Wu Siu Hong also won another Gold Medal in the Men Masters event.
In August 2001, Wu Siu Hong won the CGU Asian Bowling Tour, China while Vanessa Fung was 2nd Runner-up in the same leg. In December, both Wu Siu Hong and Vanessa Fung were the Champions in the Men and Women Division respectively in the Asian Bowling Tour, Hong Kong. Both won a berth in the Asian Bowling Tour Grand Slam Finals held in Singapore in January 2002 and were eventually 1st runner-up and 2nd runner-up in the Men and Women Division respectively.
Besides putting in a great deal of effort in improving the performance standard of the national team resulting in many outstanding achievements in international competitions, the Congress also recognizes the importance of grassroots development in the long term development and promotion of tenpin bowling sport in Hong Kong. Consequently, the Congress throughout all these years has been joining hands with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Education Department to organize bowling clinics for students, youths and adults in order to introduce the sport into the different strata of the community. In February 2003, the Congress successfully organized the “Star of Tomorrow – Tenpin Bowling Talent Identification Programme” for the first time, which is the first step of the “8 Years Development Programme”. The aims of this programme are to identify potential bowlers and to develop these bowlers as feeders for the National Squad. A total of 400 youth and adult bowlers participated in the programme out of which 27 were recruited into the National Squad and 16 into the National Youth Squad. Also, 30 adults were recruited into the Development Squad, while 18 and 46 bowlers were recruited into the National Youth Development Program Level A and Level B respectively. This Talent Identification Programme will be an annual event.
* Information & photos provided by the National Sports Association
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