Rafiq’s so excited and he just can’t hide it as ‘USA vs the World’ nears
PETALING JAYA:
National bowling ace Rafiq Ismail is rubbing his hands in glee at the prospect of making his debut in the “USA versus the World” showdown on Friday.
The 20-year-old is in the World squad by virtue of being the top five international finishers at the completion of the 40-game qualifying rounds for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) World Championship at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada, on Sunday.
Rafiq amassed a total of 9,113 pinfalls to finish joint 13th with Japan’s Shota Kawazoe, but the Malaysian won the one-game roll-off 248-176 to join the other four top international performers – Jesper Svensson of Sweden (first), Australian Jason Belmonte (second), Denmark’s Thomas Larsen (fourth) and England’s Dominic Barrett (12th) – in the five-man World team.
They will take on the formidable all-star American team of Tom Smallwood (second), Ryan Ciminelli (fifth), Kyle Troup (sixth), Matthew McNiel (seventh) and Bill O’Neill (eighth).
The star-studded showdown will be televised live on ESPN. The annual battle has been lined up as a non-title event of the PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB).
“I’m so excited! It’s like playing in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup (for golf ),” said Rafiq, who’s an avid golf fan.
“I have never experienced anything like this. This is going to be an eye-opener for me. Hope to do my part and help the Team International beat Team USA in their own backyard. That would be awesome.”
Rafiq, however, has missed out on the top 16 match play stage of the PBA Scorpion Championship, which is the fourth of the five-tournament WSOB.
He could only manage a 10-game series of 2,260 pinfalls to be placed 30th on Sunday.
But Rafiq’s not too bothered. “My WSOB campaign has been good so far,” he said.
“At least I have three events to look forward to, as I have also qualified for the tournament proper of the PBA Cheetah Championship (he finished sixth on Saturday) and the PBA World Championship, which is the mother of all the five tournaments in the series.”
Besides Rafiq, Adrian Ang is the only other player of the six-member national team to remain in action. Adrian has made the cut for the PBA Chameleon Championship.
The match play round of the PBA Chameleon Championship will be held tomorrow while that for the PBA Cheetah Championship will be on Thursday.
The PBA World Championship, meanwhile, began yesterday with the top 49 qualifiers playing an additional 20 games. The top five finishers at the 60-game mark will advance to the stepladder finals on Sunday.