Steven hatches plan to raise the competitive level of para bowlers
PETALING JAYA: National head coach Steven Teng has a plan to turn his high- achieving para bowlers into world-beaters.
He has proposed to the National Sports Council (NSC) to send his charges to able-bodied tournaments in a bid to raise their competitive level.
Although his charges swept 11 out of the 18 gold medals at stake in the just- concluded Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games, Steven believes they could have done better.
“We fell short of our 13-gold target because we missed out on several golds from the singles on the opening day,” he said.
“Many of them started nervously. They were not composed because of the lack of competition.
“As there are only a handful of bowling competitions for para athletes, we should let them compete in local and international Open tournaments against able-bodied bowlers.
“We hope NSC will approve our proposal. Otherwise, they will only have two tournaments next year – Hong Kong Open ( in March) and IBSA World Championships ( for the blind, date to be confirmed).
“The bowlers need more exposure if we are to contend for honours at the Asian Para Games (in Indonesia) next year (October) and world-level competitions in the future.”
Steven stressed that the plan was only limited to bowlers in the less severe disability categories.
“We will only select bowlers from B2 and B3 (impaired vision) as well as from B9 and B10 ( standing bowlers with either lower or upper limb disability) because they are good enough to play in the Graded (second-tier) events.
“They are capable of scoring 180 to 200 on average and give the able-bodied bowlers a run for their money,” said Steven.