Bowlers June Dill and Dianne (Bobbie) Ingham believe their experience at the Pan-Am Games will stand them in good stead for the forthcoming World Championships.

Dill and Ingham finished their competition yesterday morning with the climax to the singles competition at the Sebelen Bowling Centre in Santo Domingo.

After two days of six games per day, Ingham finished 14th. Yesterday she scored a total of 1,113 and had an average of 186.08. Her highest game was a 226. Overall she scored 2,233.

Dill, meanwhile, finished 20th out of the 32 competitors. Yesterday her highest score was 213 and she ended with an average of 181.08. Overall she scored 2,173.

Shannon Pluhowsky of the United States took the gold, while Guatemala's Sofia Rodriguez bagged silver and Clara Guerro of Colombia took bronze.

The Bermuda pair, who also competed in the doubles event, travel to Malaysia at the beginning of next month and thanks to the experience gained here, allied to the advice of principal coach Maurice Pinel and Calvin Basden, they believe they will see a marked improvement in their scores.

“It's a big step from here but because of the timeframe I should be able to maintain what I have learned here and take it to the next level,” said Ingham. “I am extremely pleased with my performance considering some of the top bowlers are here.”

Ingham began well yesterday.

“In the first set (of three) I was averaging 201, so that was good,” she said. “In the second set I couldn't really get anything going, but on the whole I am quite pleased.”

Ingham said she had fared much better than she anticipated coming into the tournament.

“(I put that down to) focusing a little bit more with the coaches here,” she said. “It's my mental game that really needs to be worked on. I just need to stay focused and keep plugging away at it. I need to be more repetitious and it will come.”

Dill, meanwhile, said she was more satisfied with her singles performance than her doubles.

“Yesterday, I finished with a 1,059, which should have been better,” she said. “I had quite a few mental lapses. When I couldn't get going initially I lost focus a bit and it wasn't until about the fourth game when I caught myself and had a much better second set.

“This morning I came out and I had a pretty good first set - I had a 598, and then, just the opposite to yesterday, my fourth and fifth games were a bit slow. But in my final game I threw a deuce-four so that helps your spirits.”

Dill said the conditions had been tough but coach Pinel's presence had helped.

“I think I am better after this tournament because of the coaching,” she said. “Having him behind me helped me a whole lot. Sometimes if I wasn't sure of something if I turned round and said ‘da de da de da' he was saying ‘no, blah blah blah'. Before I was more or less saying ‘I think I know what to do.'

“Like he said to me, I have got to get tougher mentally.”

That's something that Dill believes that many Bermudian bowlers need to work on.

“We half commit,” she said. “By that I mean we all want to do it but because we all have lives, families and things like that, it makes it very difficult to put in as much time as some of the other countries - some players, that is all they do.”

Final results in the individual event for Bermuda's men's bowlers Antoine Jones and Steven Riley were not available at press time last night, although it is understood that neither challenged for medals.

Jones began the final six games of 12 in 15th place in a field of 32 bowlers, while Riley went into the second day in 30th position.