Tammy Tham made history last week when she became the first bowler to win two Bowler of the Year awards from different national associations in the same year. It is believed that this is the first time such achievement happened in the bowls arena worldwide.
Tham, a Singaporean with residence in Hong Kong, has been a Hong Kong international since 2010. She withdrew from the Hong Kong squad in 2014 and opted for representing her homeland of Singapore.
Tham won the National Singles and National Fours in Singapore and was crowned the Bowler of the Year for the 2015 season, “As I reside in Hong Kong, I don’t spend much time in Singapore so I just participated in two competitions last year. I am glad that I won those two and took my first Bowler of the Year award in Singapore. Now I am in the squad and am looking forward to represent Singapore at major international events.”
Back to Hong Kong, in the 2015 season Tham won the National Singles when representing Kowloon Cricket Club and partnered with teammates at Club de Recreio to lift the National Fours trophy. With points amassed from other competitions, her 47 points was enough to win her second BOTY award since 2009.
Tham attributes her success to the improvement in playing on natural grass greens, “In the last two years I have been shifting the focus to playing on heavier green. Once I got more practice, my confidence has grown and so has my performance during critical moments in major games. I will continue to improve on various aspects of my game and hopefully I can get better results internationally.”
For the men, Jordi Lo won his first BOTY award with a massive 73 points, lastly due to his success at the Hong Kong International Bowls Classic.
Representing Craigengower Cricket Club, Lo won the National Pairs and National Fours during the season, and also reached the semi-finals of the National Triples.
More practice and luck is the key for his success, according to Lo, “I have practised a lot since joining CCC two years ago. With the right facilities and strong support from teammates, I found that my improvement is very obvious. Coupled with some luck in the draw of some of the competitions, I can only say that I am very happy with my achievement.”
The awards were presented at the Annual Prize Presentation Dinner organised by the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association on Friday, May 27, 2016.
Bowler of the Year criteria
Operating on a points system, players were awarded points for each game that they won at the four elite national competitions – namely the Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours, as well as the Hong Kong International Bowls Classic. The player with the highest accumulation of points during a year will be the Bowler of the Year.
This week in Lawn Bowls
The Premier League continues this Saturday with games starting at 2:30pm at all greens in Hong Kong.
Claudius Lam is an Officer of the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
