After the euphoria of Wu Siu-hong's silver medal in Monday's singles, Hong Kong came back down to earth to finish fifth in the men's doubles, although better days are expected ahead at the Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre.
Wu and Eric Tseng Tak-hin combined for a total pinfall of 2,515 points, well short of Japanese duo Tomoyuki Saki and Nobuhito Fujii who came up big in the sixth and final game with 257 and 245 points respectively to win gold with a 2,596 point total. Taiwan took both the silver and the bronze medals.
Wu and Tseng's performance was below par, but Hong Kong national coach Purvis Granger was still confident the hosts would do better in today's men's trios.
'We have a good chance of a medal,' said Granger of the three-man team competition. 'We bowled well today and were in medal contention at one stage. But they [Wu and Tseng] didn't bowl so well in the last game.'
Granger hopes Wu, Tseng and teenager Michael Mak Cheuk-yin will shine in today's trios, one of Hong Kong's stronger events.
In the women's doubles, Hong Kong's Sylvia Kong and Ng Tsz-yin began astonishingly well and were in gold medal contention after the second game.