- A second Deaflympics for Naomi and Kimberly since 2017 – more golds for Naomi, Kimberly clinched silver
- Inclusion Champion, UOL Group Ltd, sponsored this bowling delegation’s trip to compete against world’s opponents
SGDeafSport’s bowling athletes, Adelia Naomi Yokoyama, 23, and Kimberly Quek, 22, collected more medals against world opponents in bowling. At the 24th Deaflympics in Selangor, Malaysia, Naomi strikes gold first in the Women’s Singles event while Kimberly took home the silver in the Women’s Doubles event paired with Naomi.
In the semi-finals, Naomi defeated top-seed Lin Hsiang-Tzu of Chinese Taipei to advance to the finals. In the final, third-seed Hsueh Hsu-Chen from Chinese Taipei defeated South Korean second-seed Lee Chanmi before facing Naomi. In the gold medal match, Naomi won 176-165.
Without letting her victory cloud her focus in performance, she paired with Kimberly two days after. “I feel extremely happy and felt it was a dream come true to be able to win more medals this time round for our team and for our country”, Naomi said after the Women’s Doubles event. Singapore’s duo defeated Chinese Taipei’s second-seed pair to face South Korea’s fourth-seed pair of Park Sunok and Lee Chanmi in the final. As the South Korean pair started off with three consecutive wins, Naomi and Kimberly had an uphill battle. After a few unsuccessful attempts to close the gap, the Singaporean duo finished with 168 points, trailing the South Koreans’ 191 points. Kimberly and Naomi settled for silver.
“I’m just relieved to see that my hard work paid off and had move on from the 23rd Deaflympics where Naomi and I just missed the cut for the finals. I feel happy that I have a medal to bring home or rather to school (2nd year in Yale-NUS College) which is where I am currently rushing off to. I felt that the lanes were not easy here and felt overwhelmed with stress. I am grateful for the team’s support in helping me bounce back and clinch the silver with Naomi”, Kimberly said as she touched down back home in Singapore on Wednesday to attend her classes.
Former national able-bodied bowling coach William Woo said, “Naomi and Kimberly have put in lot of effort and time preparing for this major event, Deaflympics, and in the two events they have participated in. Returning home with a gold and silver…that’s awesome! I am very happy and proud of their performance. As this is my first experience going into a major bowling competition for the Deaf and hard of hearing, the Deaflympics, one of the challenges I faced was communication. We tried using written messages when making tactical adjustments(slow). We managed to speed up the moves by using some sign language and having our sign interpreter was indeed a great help. On top of our victories, we are most grateful to our sponsor, UOL Group Ltd, for helping us to place our mark and fly the Singapore flag high in this 24th Deaflympic.”
It’s not over yet as Naomi prepares for the final Women’s Masters event on Sunday, the 30th of October 2022. SGDeafSport’s supporters awaits and cheering Naomi on to perform her best and still have fun in this Deaflympics.
SGDeafSport thank UOL Group Ltd for keeping our dreams alive to compete in the 24th Deaflympics
News article by The Straits Times
