If Vivien Fung is impressed with a bowling venue, it must be something special. Macau's new bowling centre is just that - and, with 24 lanes instead of the international requirement of 20, it's a little bit more. In her capacity as honorary life president of the Asian Bowling Federation and chairwoman of the Hong Kong Tenpin Bowling Congress Ltd, Fung was in Macau yesterday to attend the official opening of the bowling centre for the upcoming East Asian Games. More VIB - very important bowler - than VIP. 'I was here about three weeks ago and it wasn't yet completely finished, but it looked impressive then,' she said, understating the rapid transformation from building site to glitzy arena. 'Today it is really very impressive. The ceilings are high and the noise will not be so big. It is quite open, and there is a lot of space for spectator seating.' When asked to compare Macau's new venue with the centres in Hong Kong, Fung said: 'So far we do not have many new centres because Hong Kong is limited in space, so it's non-comparable in terms of space. We do not have this kind of spacious area. It's really very nice.' Bowling, with 12 gold medals on offer during the six days of competition, will be one of the most keenly contested sports at the East Asian Games from October 29 to November 6. The bowling centre, tennis academy and the football field at Macau University of Science and Technology were all officially opened yesterday by Macau's Chief Executive, Edmund Ho Hau-wah. The tennis academy, which has a centre court with a seating capacity of 880 and eight outside courts, will stage the tennis and soft tennis events.
