Hong Kong Football Club made history in the local lawn bowls arena by winning their seventh consecutive title after beating mid-table club Seabird Sports Association 6-2 at home last Saturday, Nov 2.
HKFC was leading second-placed Shatin Sports Association (STSA) by three points before the last game of the season and a draw was all that was needed to win the title.
HKFC did not start well and at one point they were chasing the game 2-6. While the rink skippered by Wanis Sze was bound to win, they needed more effort from the other two skippers on the last end to maintain their hope.
Camilla Leung, fought back from 15:3 at the 9th end to be level by the 17th end. But she lost to a brilliant shot from her opponent in the last end with the scores at the finish 15:16.
As STSA has defeated relegation-threatened Club de Recreio 6-2, it was all up to the other skipper Emmie Wong to win the decider. Wong was trailing three shots into the last end but incredibly scored four shots to win the match 21:20.
HKFC got the 6-2 results they were looking for and successfully retained the title they have been holding for the last six years.
While celebrating history making win, Leung admitted that they had some luck during the campaign.
“Sometimes when we are not playing well and lost, our rivals also lost their game. So we were never too far away from our competitors,” said Leung. “The team has put in a lot of effort throughout the year and I am glad that we got the results deserved.”
For Tammy Tham and Rita Tsui—two former HKFC members who won the title with them last season, but switched to Club de Recreio this season—this is probably a season they want to forget.
The CdeR team was in the bottom half right from the beginning of the season and the loss on Saturday confirmed that their stay at the top flight will be terminated prematurely. Going down to second division with them are Kowloon Bowling Green Club, who will experience life out of the top division for the first time.
Claudius Lam is an Officer with the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association.
