Still a great outing
Men’s bowlers’ medal run over but they can walk tall
PETALING JAYA: It was an anti-climatic ending for the high-flying national bowlers at the Men’s World Championships in Hong Kong.
Malaysia had to settle for their best-ever haul of two golds – courtesy of victories from Rafiq Ismail through the singles and Adrian Ang-Tun Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam in the doubles – as there will be no more medals coming from the remaining two days of the tournament.
Malaysia failed to progress to the team of five medal round after Rafiq, Adrian, Tun Hakim, Timmy Tan and Syafiq Ridhwan could only finish 15th out of the 46 nations yesterday.
The Malaysian quintet, starting the second block 162 pins off the top four cut in 19th spot, needed to produce something special to advance.
However, they could only manage a 15-game total of 3,023 to miss the cut by 185 pins.
Defending champions the United States, powered by their PBA Tour stars EJ Tackett, Kyle Troup, Chris Barnes, Andrew Anderson and Tommy Jones claimed the top spot after amassing 6,373 pinfalls – outscoring the second-placed Canadian side by 131 pins. Italy (6,132) and Singapore (6,130) completed the top four standings.
It was Malaysia’s worst position in the team event since Munich 2010 edition. Malaysia were sixth in Abu Dhabi 2014 and Las Vegas 2017. Malaysia bagged silver for their best result in Busan 2006.
None of the six Malaysian bowlers qualified for the 24-man Masters Finals.
Rafiq was the best-placed Malaysian in the All-Events standings in 28th place with a total of 4,949 pinfalls from the singles, doubles, trios and team. He missed the top 24 cut by 22 pins.
Adrian came in 30th, followed by Syafiq (41st), Tun Hakim (54th), Timmy (63rd) and Alex Liew (193rd) in the 265-competitor standings.
The last time Malaysia did not have a representative in the Masters was also in Munich. Then the Masters featured only 16 finalists.
Team manager Maradona Chok said he couldn’t fault the team for their efforts as Malaysia have achieved their best results in a single edition of world meet – men or women – with the two gold medals won.
“The World Championships have always been a very tough competition, and only those with true grit can succeed,” said Maradona, who’s also the secretary-general of the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress.
“Winning two golds shows that we have a world-class system in place and it augurs well for Malaysian bowling.
“Credit goes to the team as a whole for the support and believing that we can deliver.”
Maradona has also singled out Rafiq for praises after he excelled on the oiling patterns while other lefties struggled.
“Rafiq, being a left-handed bowler on this pattern in Hong Kong, it was mission impossible as most lefties would say, but he took the gold. That speaks a lot of his quality,” added Maradona.
As for coach Ben Heng, who is a former World Championships medallist himself, he has passed his first major test with flying colours.
Ben is being groomed by long-serving head coach Holloway Cheah to succeed him.
“Ben did a great job by leading the team to a historic finish in his first assignment,” said Maradona.
“Holloway is happy with the way he handled the team and line-up.”