While bowling has never been a big medal sport for Indonesia at the quadrennial Asian Games, this year the country is confident of taking home at least one bowling gold, judging by the recent strong performances of national athletes.

National coach Sid Allen of Canada is upbeat his women's team, which he considers the second best in Asia after South Korea, has a good chance of winning gold at the December 1-15 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, The Jakarta Post newspaper reported Wednesday.

He said his bowlers had been improving since competing at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships here in August, narrowing the gap with South Korea .

"The bowlers have confidence and are making great progress. The team believes it can do something special in the Asian Games," said Allen, who helped Indonesia bring home three golds at the 2005 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in the Philippines .

Indonesia will continue to rely on Putty Insavilla Armein, who had a good result at the 42nd Bowling World Cup in Caracas, Venezuela, two weeks ago, finishing eighth. Putty will team up with 2005 SEA Games gold medalist Happy Soediyono, who returned to the team after maternity leave, and young bowler Tannya Roumimper.

"Based on my observations, Indonesia is now the second best in Asia after South Korea. Malaysia, where I coached for 10 years, is the third, while either Japan or Singapore is the fourth," said Allen.