GILLIAN AT THE DOUBLE

Malaysian girls set lanes ablaze at Asian Schools Championships

FABIAN PETER fabian.mark@nstp.com.my

BOWLERS Gillian Lim and Puteri Nurul Dini continued to blaze the lanes in Kuching, clinching the girls’ doubles title at the 18th Asian Schools Championships yesterday.

Just a day after winning the girls’ singles gold and bronze medal respectively at the Megalanes in Batu Kawa, Gillian and Nurul clawed back from ninth place to pole position after the fifth game.

The Sarawakian and Kedahborn duo amassed a total of 2,470 pinfalls, to finish ahead of compatriots Najwa Nazirah Mohd Amir-Nur Aina Kamalia Abdul Ayub (2,424) and Singapore’s Fiona Yew-Zong Shin Yi (2,417) who settled for the silver and bronze respectively.

“It was truly unexpected because we were in ninth place after the fourth game,” said Gillian.

“With two more games remaining, we never gave up. We kept motivating each other and we were really surprised, when we saw our names on top of the list after the fifth game.

“From then on, we just fought all the way till the end,” added Gillian.

The 18-year-old Miri-born is also in the running for the girls all events gold medal, with two events (team and Masters) remaining.

On her target, Gillian said: “Now since I already have two gold medals in the bag, I want to go on and try to win as many as I can.”

In the boys’ doubles, Malaysia’s Muhd Hazim Alihanafiah-Ahmad Azriq Izamudin, amassed a total of 2,625 pinfalls to win the silver medal.

Australia’s Callum BorckLachlan Stephenson claimed the top prize on 2,696 pinfalls, while Hong Kong’s Ivan TseAlex Yu (2,623) settled for the bronze.