8 Sept 2007 9:30:00 am

awww. saddening. had great memories there.
1) throwing my ball to the nxt lane cause it was stucked.
2) knowing henry. not in contact anymore but he's a nice dude.
3) seeing junzhi after we lost contact for so many years.
4) having my personal coach coach me in tournament instead of peter ___. (craploads i forgot his name) lolol. lim?
5) friends whom i bowled with.
6) bugged my dad to drive me from hougang to marina at 10pm to see if i made it into the top 10. (was nv so excited)
7) bowling my first masters 10 series! god -damn crap. was so tiring.
8) cried in the bowling alley after some stupid coach cheated me outta a frame by helping his very loud girl school member change score! (i think nobody knew) tsk. tmd tmd tmd.
9) bowling with sports school players. boy, they were good.
10) bowling with pretty gina lim!

=)!


JESSIE Phua may have triumphed in her battle for world bowling's top post.
But she will soon lose the bowling centre that kick-started her love affair with the sport.

Similarly, SuperBowl managing director Teo Ho Beng must soon relinquish the 'first-born' of his highly successful bowling business.

SuperBowl Marina South and Victor's Superbowl, where Phua is the executive director, must close their doors by year-end, when the 20-year leases for the two buildings run out.

Said a Singapore Land Authority spokesman yesterday: 'The site will revert to the State when the leases expire in January 2008.'

It is understood that the sites will be part of the Marina Bay re-development plan, though their exact use has not been confirmed.

Between them, the two alleys have hosted a World Championships, a South-east Asia Games bowling competition and six Singapore Opens.

It was also on these lanes that bowlers like Grace Young and Jack Wong became household names - the latter earning the nickname 'Mr Perfect' after making it a habit of scoring 300 pinfalls.

Teo, 52, said he would miss the facility he had built from scratch in 1988, and which is now the cornerstone of his five-centre bowling business.

He has no plans to open a new centre after the 36-lane facility's closure, and intends to focus on the other four SuperBowl outlets - in Hougang, Jurong, Marina Square and Safra Mount Faber - for now.

Phua, who won the FIQ (Federation International des Quilleurs) presidency last week, was also nostalgic.

'The fact that we have to leave is tinged with sadness, but we also had some happy memories there,' said Phua, who is also president of the Singapore Bowling Federation.

Some of those memories include the introduction of revolutionary bowling parties, Sunday carnival extravaganzas and mega events like the Santa Claus Open, which had both corporate types and families hogging the lanes.

'We were really trendsetters when it came to this, and it came to a point where a bowling centre was not just a bowling centre but much more,' said Phua, 51.

'I'm proud of those new inroads we made.'

She was roped in by husband Jimmy to run the 32-lane facility in 1989, after his business partner, Victor Tham, died.

The Phuas, who named the centre after Tham, are considering opening up a new alley, although nothing has been confirmed.

Among the more high-profile events Victor's hosted were the 1993 SEA Games and the 1992, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Singapore Opens.

Said Young, 44, who partnered Adelene Wee to a doubles gold at the 1993 Games: 'That victory was an exceptional memory, but other good ones include the Pee-Wee programme for toddlers in the late 1980s.

'That was very fun, I still have a photo of my niece, who was only one or two then, rolling the ball down the lane with two hands.'

She also recalled leading the 496 world-class keglers in the Athletes' Pledge at the 1991 FIQ World Championships at SuperBowl.

Wong, 55, also competed in the prestigious competition in front of packed partisan crowds.

He will also have fond memories of his perfect games at both venues, which netted him prizes like $100,00 cash payouts, a Mitsubishi Galant and a Falcon 23 sports boat.

'But the thing I'll miss most about Victor's is the structure of the centre itself,' said the former Sportsman of the Year and six-time SEA Games gold medallist.

'Among all the places I've bowled at both locally and overseas, it's the only centre which has three tiers for spectators.

'It looks grand, whether you're bowling or you're a spectator.

'And it just makes for a fantastic atmosphere. Too bad it has to go