ON TARGET: Kaitlyn Bowen, Mitchell Brown, Mark Toonen and Chris Smith. Supplied pic.
FLOODING across Indonesia's capital has not dampened the spirits of a group of Hunter tenpin bowlers who hope to represent Australia at the Asian School Tenpin Bowling Tournament.
After 12 months of competing, junior tenpin bowlers Kaitlyn Bowen, of Fletcher, Mitchell Brown, of Fletcher, and Chris Smith, of Belmont, finished in the Australian top 15 junior rankings, gaining selection for the Asian championships.
However, flooding across Jakarta in January washed out the Jaya Ancol bowling facility, leaving the competition in limbo.
The Asian Schools Tournament Committee believes the centre can be rebuilt and hopes to have it up and running by September.
After seven tournaments in 2012, Chris finished 8th on the Australian Youth Division ladder, while Mitchell finished 9th and Kaitlyn 13th.
By finishing in the top 15, the three qualified for the tournament.
More good news flowed from the seventh and final leg of the Australian series for Mitchell, where he teamed up with Mark Toonen, of Woodrising, for the National Youth Teams Challenge.
The pair took home bronze in the doubles event at the Joondalup Youth Cup in Perth, bowling the same average of 199.83.
NSW state youth coach Geoff Bowness said it was a risk to take a young team of bowlers to compete at the championships, but was glad it paid off. He said many of the competitors were much older and the young Hunter team stood up to the challenge.