Asia's finest seeking respect in Doha

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(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-12-12 08:51

While tenpin bowling alleys can attract more than their fair share of pot-bellied amateurs in odd-looking shoes, at the 15th Asian Games it is a whole different ball game.

South Korea's Jo Nam Yi competes in the bowling men's masters final at the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 10, 2006. [Reuters]

This is no place for pop music or pool tables, and even smiling appears to be frowned upon by the poker-faced players tip-toeing to the line.

"It's a serious sport -- I make a living from bowling," said Indonesia's Putty Insavilla Armein, a silver medallist here in the women's singles.

"We're competing in a high pressure situation. Physically and mentally it's tough," she told Reuters.

Most of the bowlers here say they train up to six days a week, twice daily, and put in hours of stamina work and gruelling weight training sessions in the gym.

"We're all professionals here," Indonesia's Ryan Leonard Lalisang told Reuters while limbering up before the men's masters final.

"People are surprised when I say I do this for a living. They think it's just a leisure sport that people play on the weekends.

"Training every day is tough, there's no time for anything else."

Malaysia prepared for the Games with a bowling "boot camp" in the state of Sarawak, where coaches made bowlers climb mountains, build rafts and sit in pools of ice water to build team spirit.

"It toughened us up, and if you can handle that you can handle anything," said Esther Mei Lan Cheah, who won the women's singles title at the Qatar Bowling Centre.

"Bowling is mental and physical strength. When you're out there, you really need to focus."

But Cheah, who brought 10 different bowling balls to Doha, said their efforts will be for nothing if Guangzhou's organisers are not bowled over by the sport. Many of the bowlers are aware of speculation it may be dropped from the 2010 Games.

"This would be so disappointing for us," she said. "We'd be quite devastated