Words of wisdom from legend Bohn III make a world of difference for Azriq
PETALING JAYA: Teenage bowler Ahmad Azriq Izamudin, armed with some wise words and useful tips from American professional Parker Bohn III, captured the Under-15 boys’ title at the Milo International Junior All-Stars Bowling Championships.
It was his maiden international victory.
The 54-year-old Bohn III, regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time with 35 US PBA Tour wins and 110 perfect games, is in town with his sons Brandon and Justin to compete in the tournament at the Sunway Mega Lanes.
Azriq, who had a one-on-one session with Bohn III on Monday, blazed the lanes with lines of 195-255-242-213-247258-236-245 to top the 22-man finals with a 1,891 total – averaging an impressive 236.38 per game.
Azriq finished 94 pins clear of second-placed Megat Zaqrul Haiqal. Mohd Nur Syafiq Imran was third with 1,792.
Bohn’s sons Justin (1,648) and Brandon (1,537) – finished 10th and 18th.
“I’m so happy to earn my first international title breakthrough,” said Azriq, who bagged three silvers and a bronze for Malaysia at the Asian Schools Championships in Sarawak last month.
“I was confident of finishing in the top three because I’ve been in good form of late. But I never thought I would go on to win it!”
Azriq’s victory was made even more memorable as he was handed the trophy by guest-of-honour Bohn III during the prize-giving ceremony.
“It’s such an honour to receive the trophy from Parker Bohn personally. He’s such a great inspiration to many of us,” said Azriq.
“Sunway Megalanes (the event organisers) actually arranged for me to attend a Q&A session with him the day before.
“He gave me a lot of wise words. He told me to ‘ always keep your head in the game, then good things will come, and pick up all your spares’.”
Inspired, Azriq has vowed to try and qualify for the boys’ Open (Under-21) finals on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Singapore dominated the top three standings of the girls’ Under-15 category, with Chan Jing Wen emerging victorious with a 1,753 total. Quek Lu Yi (1,674) was second and Arielle Tay (1,654) was third.