Men’s trio bounce back to win silver
THE national men’s bowling trio of Rafiq Ismail, Timmy Tan Chye Chern and Ahmad Muaz Mohd Fishol rose from the 10th position in the first block to clinch the silver medal in the event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games yesterday.
The trio recorded 4,235 points at Jakabaring Bowling Centre here to clinch the silver medal in the event.
However, they were 109 points behind Japan’s Tomoyuki Sasaki, Shogo Wada and Shusaku Asato (4,344), who were the defending champions while the bronze medal went to the Singaporean trio comprising Alex Chong, Darren Ong and Muhammad Jarris Goh (4,226).
Shusaku also became the first player to roll a perfect game of 300 points in this multi-sports event in his third game.
Meanwhile, another national trio, Adrian Ang Hsien Loong, Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek and Alex Liew who were placed second in the first block could not keep their blazing pace when they finished ninth with 4,147 points.
Malaysia had won the gold medal in the event through Daniel Lim, Ben Heng and Aaron Kong in the 2006 edition in Doha while in Incheon, South Korea, the Malaysian trio of Syafiq, Timmy Tan and Zulmazran Zulkifli bagged the silver.
This is the second Asian Games medal from the bowling camp after the women’s trio of Esther Cheah, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, ended a 24-year drought in the event with a gold medal at the same venue on the first day of competition on Wednesday.
National equestrian ace, Mohd Qabil Ambak Mahamad Fathil missed his first Asian Games gold medal by a 0.425 point difference.
Mohd Qabil, who came out of retirement to help the Malaysian team bid for glory at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, was disappointed when he had to settle for the silver in the individual dressage at the Jakarta International Equestrian Park yesterday. In the final round, Mohd Qabil earned 76,620 points after he was defeated by Hong Kong’s athlete Wing Ying Siu who collected 77,045 points to win the gold medal, while South Korea’s Kim Hyeok took home the bronze medal with 75.705 points. In squash, Datuk Nicol David led the country’s charge to the last eight in the squash individual competition yesterday. The world No. 9 received a bye in the opening round and took only 22 minutes to dispose of her opponent, Li Dongjin of China in 11-8, 11-5 and 11-1 in the second round match at Gelora Bung Karno squash stadium. Earlier, three other national players – S. Sivasangari, Ivan Yuen Chee Wern and Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan, booked their places in the last eight after overpowering their opponents in the preliminary round. Sivasangari who is the national women’s champion, thrashed Mihiliya Methsarani of Sri Lanka 11-6, 11-6 and 11-6 in the first round before sending off Yuliana Catur of Indonesia in 11-6,11-7 and 11-6 in the second round. Yuen, who is the reigning national men’s champion, was also in his element as he blasted off Muhammad Nur Tastaftyan of Indonesia, 11-2, 11-5 and 11-2 before subduing Muhammad Asim Khan of Pakistan, 11-9, 11-8 and 12-10 in the second round. Another national player, Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan also did not face much problems in beating Ravindu Laksiri of Sri Lanka, 11-8, 11-7 and 11-9 in the first round before crushing Syed Azlan Amjad of Qatar, 11-6, 11-7 and 11-7 in the second round. – Bernama