South Korea picked up its first bowling gold in the women’s doubles squad event at the Incheon Asian Games on Friday, successfully defending the title it had earned in the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad.
The duo of Lee Na-young and Son Yun-hee scored 2,553 points to beat out Malaysia‘s Shalin Zulkifli and Sin Li Jane, who earned
2,518 points at Anyang Hogye Gymnasium in South Korea’s city of Anyang, just south of the capital city of Seoul. Another South Korean team of Lee Yeong-seung and Jung Da-wun got the bronze with 2,462 points.
The duo of Lee and Son started off the first match by earning 222 and 202 points, respectively. The two descended to fifth in the third match but bounced back to the No.1 after Lee‘s five strikes in a row in the fifth match.
South Korea also took the gold in the same event at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games with different players.
It is the second medal at Incheon for Lee, who also picked up the bronze in the singles squad Wednesday.
“I was really frustrated when I had stumbled midway through the game, but Son told me not to be stressed out and to be relaxed to the end,” said the 28-year-old Lee. “Thanks to her, I was able to overcome the crisis.”
The 30-year-old Son, who is the captain of the country’s female bowling team, cited trust in her teammate as key to their victory.
“I‘d been under heavy pressure well before taking to the line, which caused some mistakes,” she admitted. “But I’ve believed in Na-young, and this result proved that I was right.”
