Bad day in Las Vegas for keglers

IT wasn’t the brightest of starts for the national women bowlers at the World Championships in Las Vegas on Saturday.

None of the six Malaysian contenders managed to make the cut for the women’s singles semi-finals.

After six games, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman was Malaysia’s best finisher in 16th place, reeling in a total of 1,243 pinfalls.

Only the top four bowlers are able to qualify for the match play round (semi-finals) at the South Point Bowling Plaza today.

South Korea’s Haeni Hong took pole position ahead of the last four stage amassing 1,330 pinfalls, while Japan’s Futaba Imai came in a close second on 1,322.

Denmark’s Mai Ginge Jensen and Hong Kong’s Han Shuk Chan snatched the last two spots by registering 1,312 pinfalls each.

Team manager Maradona Chok, admitted that the Malaysian bowlers were slow off the blocks, and inevitably had to pay the price as they did not seem comfortable with the oiling pattern.

“It was a very fair pattern for all styles, but we did not adapt to the transition fast enough. It was very tricky, which made it harder to connect the strikes.

“We are working on the balls. We can change the surfaces a little to suit the lanes. It means hook style bowlers will need to be more accurate as well,” said Maradona.

Five other Malaysian bowlers: Sin Li Jane (1,212), Esther Cheah (1,154), Shalin Zulkifli (1,137), Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi (1,137) and Natasha Roslan (1,084) were ranked outside the top 30.

The men’s singles event over two squads, got underway yesterday. Fabian Peter