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BANGKOK, Thailand : Two years ago, Remy Ong was fuming, his face red with anger.
It was just after the 2005 SEA Games men's masters' stepladder final, and it appeared he had been robbed of the gold medal, the oiling patterns of the lanes favouring hometown favourite Markwin Tee.
Allegations of foul play wafted through Manila's Pearl Bowling Centre, but Ong had no recourse.
On Thursday night, that bitter memory was pushed to the back of his mind as Ong finally bagged the masters gold on the penultimate day of the 2007 SEA Games bowling competition at Bangkok's SF Strike Bowl Ramkhamhaeng.
The Singaporean defeated Indonesia's Ryan Leonard Lalisang by a single pinfall in the two-game stepladder final.
Ong bowled 237 and 204 for a combined total of 441, against Lalisang's 440 pinfalls (227 and 213). Ong had earlier beaten Malaysia's Zulkifli Zulmazran 194-159 in the semi-finals.
"It feels just great to finally win it, having finished third in 2001 and second in 2005," said Ong, who turned 29 last month. "More importantly, I'm really glad to be able to contribute another medal to Team Singapore's overall tally.
"This gold medal isn't just about me, but about the whole team behind it."
It was Ong's second gold medal of the Games here, taking the bowling squad's haul to three gold and one bronze, and boosting Singapore's overall tally to 39 golds. On Monday, he teamed up with Jason Yeong-Nathan and men's singles champion Shaun Ng to win the trios, also by a single point over the Indonesians.
Ong was the last bowler that night and he displayed nerves of steel to knock down the nine pins needed to clinch victory. He described last night's win over Lalisang as the "toughest" 441 pinfalls he had ever bowled, because of the conditions.
As the second best qualifier (3,329) after the preliminary round of 16 games, Ong chose to bowl on long oil for his semi-final against No 3 qualifier Zulkifli (3,325) of Malaysia, beating him comfortably.
But as the top qualifier, Lalisang (3,358) had the privilege of choosing his preferred short oil for the stepladder final.
"I was demoralised initially when Ryan (Lalisang) chose short oil because he had done better on it, while my game was better on long oil," said Ong. "But I wanted to win it very badly.
"While the ball didn't react the way I wanted it to, I kept at it and eventually found a way. You have no idea how many adjustments I tried out there on the lane just to win."
Although he has bagged more prestigious titles - last year's men's world championship and his triple gold haul at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, winning the SEA Games masters gold was particularly sweet for the Singaporean.
Said the 2006 Sportsman of the Year: "After what happened two years ago, I was especially fired up to get it right this time. We were prepared for all possible situations and came armed with a plan A, B, C and D."
The bowling competition ends on Friday with the mixed doubles, and if Ong - who will partner Cherie Tan - makes it a hat-trick of gold medals, his face will no doubt light up red again - not with anger, but joy. - TODAY
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