Hungry for more
‘Super Six’ eye Asiad title to repeat triple feat
PETALING JAYA: The national women’s bowling team are not ready to rest on their laurels after conquering the world.
The Malaysian “Super Six” of Shalin Zulkifli, Sin Li Jane, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, Esther Cheah, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi and Natasha Roslan set the alley ablaze to reclaim the women’s team gold medal at the World Championships in Las Vegas, the United States, last Saturday.
This was after the same “Super Six” had also captured the gold medal at the KL SEA Games in August.
Their next target is the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, from Aug 18-Sept 2 next year and head coach Holloway Cheah has tipped them to repeat the 2007 all-conquering side’s feat of winning all the three titles.
At the Doha Asiad in 2006, Shalin, Esther, Wendy Chai, Choy Poh Lai, Sharon Koh and Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi powered their way to Malaysia’s first-ever women’s team crown before their World Championships triumph in Monterrey, Mexico, the following year.
They then went on to clinch the SEA Games gold in Korat, with Siti Safiyah and Zatil Iman Abdul Ghani replacing Poh Lai and Wendy.
“This team reminds me of the squad I had 10 years ago ... and two of them are still with me,” said Holloway.
“I believe we have a strong chance of repeating the triple feat we achieved back in 2007. It will again be about getting the better of Singapore and South Korea, who remain as strong as always.”
Malaysia ended their recent Las Vegas campaign with a best-ever medal haul of one gold and three silvers – all from women’s events through Li Jane-Shalin (doubles); Siti Safiyah (All-Events); and Li Jane (Masters).
“I thought the girls would win a couple of medals, but they exceeded my expectations by bagging four out of the six events,” said Holloway.
“I’m really proud of them.” Holloway, hower, is not losing any sleep over the men’s team’s under-whelming performance.
The six-member team of Rafiq Ismail, Alex Liew, Adrian Ang, Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Timmy Tan and Ahmad Muaz Fishol failed to bag a single medal despite arriving in
the US a month earlier to play in the PBA World Series of Bowling.
The only creditable performances came from Timmy (eighth in the singles), Muaz (fifth in the All-Events) and the team (sixth placing).
“Our men’s team did okay. It’s just that the lane patterns did not favour the lefties and we’ve got two southpaws (Rafiq and Alex) in the team,” explained Holloway.
“The men’s competition is always stronger than the women’s in terms of numbers and quality. At least our men managed three top10 finishes in six events. So it’s not really that bad.”