ASIAD: Malaysian National Men’s Bowling Trio Hungers For More Medals

From Vikneswaran Raman PALEMBANG, Aug 24 (Bernama) – The Malaysian national men’s bowling trio of Rafiq Ismail, Timmy Tan Chye Chern and Ahmad Muaz Mohd Fishol is not satisfied with winning the silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games, Thursday. In fact, they want to create history by clinching the country’s gold medal in 40 years in men’s team event in the championship at Jakabaring Bowling Centre here on Saturday. The last time Malaysia won a team gold event was in the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. “We are very proud of today’s success… but we are not satisfied with only this medal. We are hungry for more medals especially the team event which has slipped many times from hands,” said Rafiq. “Nonetheless, we do not want to put pressure on ourselves as the ball is round. Anything can happen...another day, another rhythm, more so the team of six event has just been introduced in the Asian Games (to replace Team of Five),” he told reporters after the prize presentation ceremony. A change in the scoring format by the organisers has made competition more intense and open when the Malaysian trio rose from the 10th position in the first block to finish second with 4,235 points after the second block. Japan’s Tomoyuki Sasaki, Shogo Wada and Shusaku Asato defended their gold medal with 4,344 points while the bronze medal went to Singapore’s Alex Chong, Darren Ong and Muhammad Jarris Goh (4,226). Another national trio comprising Adrian Ang Hsien Loong, Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek and Alex Liew was placed ninth with 4,147 points. Meanwhile, Timmy Tan, who a member of the silver medal trio in the Incheon games in South Korea with Syafiq and Zulmazran Zulkifli, said there was a sharp change in the oil from first to second block. “The change of oil from medium in first block to long oil in second game totally changed the game. We had a game plan, we stuck to it and managed to win,” he said. Malaysia last won the men’s trio gold medal via Daniel Lim, Ben Heng and Aaron Kong in the 2006 edition in Doha. -- BERNAMA