Rafiq can be a Chameleon but can’t swim with the Shark
PETALING JAYA: Rafiq Ismail excelled in one lane pattern but flopped in another as he stayed in the hunt for the US$ 60,000 ( RM252,000) jackpot at the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) World Championship in the United States.
The 20-year-old impressed with lines of 201264-236-247-253 on the 39-foot Chameleon pattern but found the going tough on the 45-foot Shark pattern as he struggled to post 172-206181-279-248 to finish with a 10-game total of 2,287 pinfalls at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada, on Monday.
Rafiq, who entered the tournament proper as the 13th best qualifier, slipped to 15th spot in the 49-bowler contest with a 50-game total of 11,400 pinfalls.
He has a 153-pin deficit to overcome with 10 more games remaining if he’s to make the topfive cut to qualify for Sunday’s stepladder finals.
The current top five leaders are Sweden’s Jesper Svensson ( 12,083); Australia’s Jason Belmonte (11,780); and American trio Kyle Troup (11,625), Ryan Ciminelli (11,601) and Tom Smallwood (11,553).
Rafiq has vowed to fight on.
“These are the two patterns I failed to cope with in the first two tournaments of the week (the PBA Chameleon Championship and PBA Shark Championship),” said Rafiq.
“But I only managed to conquer one today. If only I had performed a little better on the Shark pattern, I would have finished higher in the standings.
“I’m happy with how I responded in the last two games (279 and 248) to stay in touch with the leaders.
“There are 10 more games to go. There’s still chance for me to sneak into the top five. My target is to shoot a 240 average as I’m quite confident of doing well in the Cheetah and Scorpion patterns.”
Rafiq is already assured of US$ 2,000 (RM8,400) for reaching the tournament proper. The top five are set to earn a minimum US$15,000 (RM63,000).