Malaysians fail to shine in Las Vegas
THE national men’s bowling team found themselves in the same boat as their female counterparts when none of the six made the cut for the singles semi-finals at the World Championships in Las Vegas.
After six games on Sunday, Timmy Tan was Malaysia’s best finisher when he amassed a total of 1,286 pinfalls.
Xander Van Mazijk of the Netherlands took pole position on 1,373 pinfalls, followed by Puerto Rico’s Israel Hernandez (1,361), Taiwan’s Wu Hao Ming (1,337) and Germany’s Tobias Boerding (1,319).
Only the top four bowlers qualified for the match play round, which was held late yesterday at the South Point Bowling Plaza.
Team manager Maradona Chok attributed the poor performance to the tricky lane patterns.
“They faced the same problem as the women’s, who bowled a day earlier.
“It was hard to connect strikes.
“Their bowling balls will be adjusted. The coaches are currently working on them,” said Maradona.
Former World Cup winner Syafiq Ridhwan (1,222) was placed 45th, followed by Ahmad Muaz Fishol (50th — 1,218), Rafiq Ismail (53rd — 1,214), Alex Liew (73rd — 1,190) and Adrian Ang (90th — 1,169).
The pairings of Timmy-Muaz, Adrian-Syafiq and Rafiq-Alex took to the lanes late yesterday. Fabian Peter