Rafiq bows out of PBA World Championship in 24th place
PETALING JAYA: Rafiq Ismail had a day to forget after ending up in 24th spot at the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) World Championship in the United States.
The 20-year-old failed to make the topfive cut for the stepladder finals after managing only 2,155 pinfalls over the last 10 games at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada, to finish with a 60-game total of 13,555 pinfalls.
He struggled to knock down 1,136 pins on the 33-foot Cheetah pattern before faring even worse on the 42-foot Scorpion pattern later in the evening, posting the lowest five-game series of his campaign with a 1,019 total to miss the cut by 275 pins.
In-form Swedish bowler Jesper Svensson retained top spot in the 49-player standings with a 14,465 total. He will be joined by Australia’s Jason Belmonte (14,129) and Americans Ryan Ciminelli (14,031), Kyle Troup (13,931) and Matthew Sanders (13,830) in the final race for the US$60,000 (RM252,000) top prize on Sunday.
Rafiq was clearly disappointed despite pocketing US$4,000 (RM16,700) for his efforts.
“It’s not a bad result for a debutant like me to finish 24th out of 195 competitors,” said Rafiq, who was the World Singles Championships silver medallist in Cyprus last year.
“I know I’m capable of doing better. That’s why I’m not happy with my performance today. It’s nowhere near my best. I’m really sad to bow out this way.”
It’s not all over yet for Rafiq, though. He can still make amends in today’s PBA Cheetah Championship, where he’s seeded sixth in the last-16 match play stage.
Rafiq will open his campaign against 11th seed Belmonte in a best-of-five contest. If he clears that hurdle, then he will face either third seed Andrew Cain or 14th seed Ciminelli in the last eight.
The Malaysian will also feature for the five-man International Selection to take on the United States Selection in the “US vs the World” exhibition team showdown tomorrow.