Grandstand finish
SUPER SHOW: Nur Aiman, Siti Safiyah clinch Masters gold as Malaysia take top spot
MUHD Nur Aiman Khairuddin and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman provided the icing on the cake as they won the men’s and women’s Masters gold medals to complete Malaysia’s best ever performance at the Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championships yesterday.
Siti Safiyah, who took to the lanes first, defeated Australia’s Bec Whiting 257-235 in the stepladder final for the women’s title, equalling Malaysia’s previous best haul of four gold medals at the 2005 edition in Cyprus.
Malaysia had earlier won the men’s singles (Aiman), women’s doubles (Shalin Zulkifli and Siti Safiyah) and the mixed team event.
Aiman, however, set the record when he saw off South Africa’s Quintin Haywood 268-244 at Northcliff Bowl in Johannesburg.
“After seeing Sofy (Siti Safiyah) clinch the women’s crown, I was pumped up to deliver too.
“I knew the best Malaysia had done before this was winning four gold medals in Cyprus 11 years ago. I wanted to surpass that record.
“The confidence was there as I have been performing well all week long. I just bowled like I did during my previous events,” said Aiman.
Both Aiman and Siti Safiyah had qualified for the stepladder final as the top seeds after finishing ahead of the rest in the 12-man round on Friday.
“I am really happy because it’s my first time winning the Masters event in an official tournament,” said Siti Safiyah, who also won the Indonesia Open last month.
“All of us were amazing in this championships and we owe it to our coaches (Wendy Chai and Gerald Samuel) who played an important role this week.”
With five gold, three silver and one bronze, Malaysia finished as the best team of the competition, followed by England (1-0-3) and South Africa (1-2-0). Muhd Nur Aiman Khairuddin
and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman