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SCMP Reporter

Hong Kong's tenpin bowling team will rely on the talented Wu Siu-hong as they search for medals at the East Asian Games but coach Petro Merani is urging caution.

'Our dream is to win everything,' said Merani after attending Hong Kong's flag-raising ceremony outside the Macau Stadium yesterday.

'But bowling is a sport in which we need to consider the performances of our 54 opponents as well as how well our players adapt to the lanes,' Merani said.

'All this makes it difficult for me to predict how well we will eventually do.'

However, Merani said the team were eager to continue their domination from the last East Asian Games in Osaka, when Wu won two gold medals in the men's masters and men's double with the late Sunny Hui Cheung-kwok.

'We have prepared for the games since last year and we are ready,' Merani said. 'Moreover, we came here with an expectation to win. We have Wu, one of Asia's top men's bowlers, and Vanessa Fung Suet-yee, who is outstanding too. Now we have to wait for the competition to start.'

Apart from Wu and Fung, seven other players from Hong Kong will compete in the men's and women's events, which include singles, doubles, trios, five-player teams, all-events, and masters with a total of 12 gold medals at stake.

Merani said the strongest opponents for Hong Kong would be South Korea and Japan in the men's and Taiwan in the women's.

'The Koreans and Japanese have a long tradition in the sport. The other teams who may cause a surprise are the mainland and Taiwanese ladies. They both won medals in the singles events at the last World Championships held in Denmark in August. That means we are facing the best teams in Asia in Macau this time,' he said.

Zhang Yuhong of China won a silver medal in women's singles and Taiwan's Wang Yu-ling captured gold in the all-event at the World Championships. Both are competing in Macau.

The 21-year-old Wu, one of Hong Kong's brightest medal hopes, said he hoped for a repeat of his Osaka heroics. 'Although only a small number of countries are competing here, they all play at a high level. I will have to be at my best to beat them,' Wu said.

Competition begins on Monday at the Macau Bowling Centre.



Bowlers put their faith in Wu