Adrian fires perfect game to check into PBA Tour match-play round

The oiling pattern suits me well, so I was able to play solidly today. Adrian Ang

PETALING JAYA: Adrian Ang (pic) fired the 20th perfect game of his career en route to making the top 16 of the Professional Bowlers’ Association ( PBA) Chameleon Championship in the United States.

The 29-year-old reeled in lines of 227- 227- 244- 279- 245- 300- 215- 236192-194 to finish a creditable joint eighth in the 195-player field with a 10-game total of 2,359 at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada on Wednesday.

Seven other Malaysians failed to join Adrian in the match-play round, which will be held at the same venue next Wednesday.

Former World Cup winner Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek was joint 60th with a 2,188 total, followed by Alex Liew (73rd, 2175); Timmy Tan (76th, 2172); Rafiq Ismail (112nd, 2115); former international Zulmazran Zulkifli (137th, 2070); and Shalin Zulkifli (141th, 2068).

Shalin was one of the six women in the fray.

American Tom Smallwood topped the qualifying with 2,439 pinfalls, with Sweden’s Jesper Svensson ( 2,394) second and Canada’s Francois Lavoie and Josh Blanchard tied for third on 2,380.

Adrian was delighted after getting his maiden PBA Tour outing off to fine start.

“It’s definitely a good start,” said Adrian.

“The oiling pattern suits me well, so I was able to play solidly today.

“I’m also pleased to roll my 20th perfect game here on the PBA Tour. All in all I’ve got 31 now, including 11 in training.”

His good start kind of makes up for his failure to attend his wife (former national wushu exponent) Ng Shin Yii’s graduation ceremony at Universiti Putra Malaysia last Saturday.

“The team left for the US just two days before my wife’s convocation. I was a bit sad for not being there, but at least we managed to take some graduation photographs with the family before I left.

“I told myself that I had to do well to make up for it.”

The Chameleon Championship is the first of the five events lined up for the PBA World Series of Bowling.

The others are the Shark Championship, which began yesterday, Cheetah Championship (Nov 11), Scorpion Championship (Nov 12) and World Championship (Nov 13). Only the first four tournaments’ qualifying rounds will be determined by a 10-game roll-off.

As for the World Championship, the top 32 bowlers with the highest 40-game grand total accumulated from the previous roll-offs will qualify.

All the match play rounds for the five tournaments are slated for Nov 15-18.