NO LADY LUCK FOR WOMEN
Malaysia fail to make trios semifinals in world meet
FABIAN PETER fabian.mark@nstp.com.my
CONSISTENCY deserted them when they needed it most. Subsequently, Malaysia’s women’s bowlers failed to make the semi-finals of the World Championships in Las Vegas.
After a decent showing in the first block of three games on Wednesday, Natasha Roslan, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidia and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman could only manage seventh place after the second block on Thursday, amassing a total of 3,661 pinfalls.
Only the top four trios qualified for the match play round (semifinals) tomorrow at the South Point Bowling Plaza.
The United States’ Shannon O’Keefe, Danielle McEwan and Kelly Kulick took pole position on a 3,820 total, followed by Germany (3785), Taiwan (3,721) and Indonesia (3,704).
Team manager Maradona Chok, when contacted, lamented: “We ran out of luck for the trios. We have the team event next, hopefully we’ll have more Lady Luck then.”
Malaysia’s second trios of Shalin Zulkifli, Sin Li Jane and Esther Cheah finished in 14th place on 3,592 pinfalls.
In the men’s event, Adrian Ang, Timmy Tan and Ahmad Muaz Fishol were Malaysia’s best finishers, in 14th place on 3,641 pinfalls.
Japan’s Daisuke Yoshida, Shogo Wada and Shusaku Asato took the top spot heading into the semi-finals on 3,868 pinfalls, followed by Hong Kong (3,808), Finland (3,784) and Taiwan (3,757).
Malaysia’s second trios of Rafiq Ismail, Alex Liew and Syafiq Ridhwan finished 17th on 3,620.
The first block of three games for both the men’s and women’s team of five got underway yesterday.