Malaysia's Silver, Bronze At Bowling World Championships Still A Fine Outing In UAE

By Amiril Muttaqien Meketar KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- Despite missing out to strike gold, the Malaysian bowlers still deserve a pat on their back following their achievement to 'spare' silver and bronze each in the just concluded International Bowling Federation (IBF) World Championships in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Team manager, Maradona Chok said his charges had a good outing in Dubai albeit they had only less than two months to prepare and were out of competition for almost two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Our competitive sharpness was lacking but we made all the quarterfinals in all the events, only one other team achieved that was the United States. So it was a good outing in my opinion,” he told Bernama when contacted. Chok was also pleased to see the young keglers "rock and bowl" throughout the tournament despite having much to learn to set the lanes ablaze in the next competitions. Asked on the aspects that the bowlers need to improve, Chok said they must sharpen up to produce shots when under pressure. The women’s team, comprising Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, Natasha Mohamed Roslan, Nur Syazwani Sahar and Faten Najihah Ahmad Faik, missed the title after losing to the USA in the final held at the Sports, Fitness and Wellbeing Hub at Expo 2020 Dubai, late Monday. The national team won the first game 190-170 against Missy Parkin, Jordan Richard, Danielle McEwan, and Kelly Kulick, but the USA bounced back to win the second tie 171-215, before securing the gold medal with a 40-38 win in the tiebreaker. The ladies advanced to the final after ousting the Philippines 203-183 in the semi-finals and Germany 235-199 in the last eight stage. Meanwhile, the men’s team made up of former world champion Muhammad Rafiq Ismail, Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Tun Ameerul Luqman Al-Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam and Muhammad Syazirol Shamsudin settled for bronze after losing in the last four stage. They went down 184-299 against eventual champions South Korea in the semi-finals, after eliminating USA 279-258 in the quarter-finals. The South Koreans took the crown after defeating Singapore 196-136, 248-198. The national men and women’s singles, doubles and trios had all failed to get past the quarter-final stage since the competition rolled off on Nov 6. In the meantime, Chok said they are still unsure on the next tournaments that they will participate in 2022 and expect the closest one would be the SEA Games, slated to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, next May. -- BERNAMA