KUALA LUMPUR: A day after narrowly missing out on a podium finish, Gillian Lim bounced back to help Sarawak defend the women's doubles gold title in the Interstate bowling championships on Tuesday.
Gillian, 25, secured her second victory in as many years, this time teaming up with her good friend Nur Aina Kamalia Abdul Ayub. The duo topped the contest with a 2,588 total at Sunway Mega Lanes.
Gillian posted a personal score of 1,335, the highest in the field, while Aina contributed 1,253. Their combined effort beat favourites Natasha Roslan and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman of Selangor (2,542).
The outcome dashed world champion Natasha's hope of clinching her second gold of the campaign after ruling the singles event on Monday.
Faten Najihah Ahmad Faik, the singles silver medallist, added a bronze when she and Frah Izzazaya Fariq finished third with a 2,509 total.
Gillian was visibly delighted to have made up for her disappointment on Monday, where she finished 17 pins shy of Shalin Zulkifli in the battle for bronze.
Making the victory sweeter, Gillian won alongside 24-year-old Aina, with whom she grew up since their teenage days on the state team. Last year, Gillian bagged the gold with the now-retired Nerosha Keligit.
"Aina and I, our friendship goes back nine years," said Gillian. "We played bowling together on the state team and slowly became best friends. We always hang out together off the alley.
"So to be able to win this gold with her, it's really special. We've competed together in Sukma and Interstate for many years and reached the podium once together when we were playing in the girls' division some years back."
Gillian has been performing well this year, with her best achievement being winning the Malaysia Open in May. At the Asian Championships in Bangkok recently, she helped the country clinch silver in trios and team events.
Earlier, Kuala Lumpur swept two golds through Azriq Izamudin-Shaqeem Izwan Teh and Zarina Halim-Sandra Periasamy in the boys' doubles and women's senior doubles, respectively.
Selangor also secured a gold with Intan Nor Edryana Nor Azlim-Afiqah Kamalia Ali winning the girls' doubles, while Terengganu achieved success in the men's senior doubles, delivered by Abdul Halim Harun-Abdul Rahim Salleh.