By Mitchell Clarke
An Officer woman has bowled her way to the top, beating 60 countries to claim the title of World Championship.
Rebecca Whiting represented Australia in the prestigious 2019 Qubica AMF Bowling Cup in Pelambang, Indonesia, the largest annual international sports championship of participating nations.
After bowling 42 games in the eight day tournament, Ms Whiting was officially crowned on Saturday 23 November, beating Aumi Guerra from the Dominican Republic in a tense final which provided many “twists and turns”.
“This really is a dream come true for me,” Ms Whiting told the Gazette.
“I never thought I could win this. I’ve seen all these names and I’ve always wondered if I could compete against them, so to win the whole thing is a long-time dream.”
Having bowled for almost 20 years, Rebecca gave the sport a go for “fun” after seeing an advertisement for AMF Bowling at Fountain Gate when she was just 10-years-old.
She made her first Victorian team in 2004 and has since travelled the world with bowling.
Despite her success on the alley, she went to Indonesia as an underdog, not expecting to come close to the title, claiming she’d have been happy with a top 10 finish.
“I hadn’t been bowling too great in recent times,” she laughed.
“I started off a bit slow in qualifying and then had a couple of great days in the lanes which moved me to top four.”
After four days of qualifying, Ms Whiting moved into the top 24, before making the final eight. Once top four was secured, she took on Natasha Roslan from Malaysia while Ms Guerra battled Kelly Kulick from the USA.
Remarkably, the three other finalists are full-time bowlers while Rebecca works full time as an event coordinator in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs, only finding the time to bowl twice a week.
“It’s super competitive, a lot of these ladies actually do it for a living,” she said.
Her parents and two of her closest friends joined her in Indonesia to witness the amazing achievement.
“Words can’t describe how very proud we are of Bec,” mother Val said.
“There were plenty of tears shed.”
With the accolade only just starting to feel real, Rebecca said a congratulatory message from Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell was a highlight.
“You should be so proud of your achievements. You’ve done not only your family and friends proud, but the whole country as well,” Maxwell said.
While the celebrations are only just beginning, Ms Whiting has vowed to take a break from bowls to let her body recover before returning to competition in February.
