Only the World will do for lawn bowler Fairul

PETALING JAYA: Veteran lawn bowler Fairul Izwan Abdul Muin wants to lay his hands on a world title.

The 35-year-old Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officer came close to winning the World Champion of Champions title in Queensland, Australia, two years ago.

Then, Emma Firyana Saroji won the women’s singles crown by beating Nici Neal of South Africa in straight sets (9-3, 9-8) while Fairul’s dreams went up in smoke after he lost to Ireland’s Neil Milholland 10-10, 3-8 in the final at the Helensvale Bowls Club in Gold Coast.

That has no deterred the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games trainee from chasing his dream.

“I am looking at taking another shot at the world title. My immediate aim is to go for my third gold medal in the SEA Games. Then, I will switch my sight to bigger goals – the Commonwealth Games next year and the World Bowls in 2020 (both in Gold Coast),” said Fairul.

At the SEA Games, Fairul will compete in the pairs with Mohd Hizlee Abdul Rais, a World Champion of Champions winner in 2012. The duo last won a silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

A total of eight gold medals will be on offer at the KL Games – singles, pairs, triples and fours (men & women).

Malaysia are the overwhelming favourites as they’ve been overall champions since lawn bowls made its debut at the 1999 Brunei Games. They enjoyed a 4-1-1 medal haul in Brunei, 5-1-0 in KL 2001, 3-2-1 in Manila 2005 and 4-1-1 in Korat 2007.

Fairul said that their target this time is four golds.

“We have a strong team and should surpass the four-gold target,” said Fairul, who had also won the pairs gold with Safuan Said (Manila 2005) and the triples gold with Mohd Azuan Suhaimi and Khairul Anuar Kadir (Korat 2007).

Fairul, who is in the Podium Programme, also won the pairs bronze with Safuan at the World Bowls in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2008.