Rolling with the punches
Aiman strikes it big after persevering under adversity
Muhd Nur Aiman Khairuddin (pic) nearly quit the national bowling team six months ago.
The 28-year-old felt his form was going south and thought it would be better for him to call it quits and focus on his food business in his homestate Johor.
Luckily for Malaysia, the two-time Malaysian Open champion decided to persevere and work on his game. And thanks to his family and friends’ encouragement, Aiman is now in the best form of his life.
He was Malaysia’s best performer with a three-gold show at the Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championships, which ended in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday.
“I wanted to resign at the end of April,” said Aiman, who joined the elite squad in 2008.
“But when I spoke to my parents and friends of my intention, they were against it. They told me to continue with my bowling career as I’m still young and have a lot to offer.
“George (Tan, Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress secretary-general) also advised me to stay too.
“Come to think of it now, I made the right decision.
“I’m really happy with my performance in Johannesburg. I arrived with a one-gold target and didn’t expect to go home with three!
“It made me believe again. Now I’m raring to go and hope to continue doing the country proud.”
Nur Aiman was the gold medallist in the singles, mixed team and Masters. He also finished second in the men’s doubles with Timmy Tan and mixed doubles with Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman. He also came out tops in the All-Events, but no medal was awarded in these championships.
Malaysia also won the women’s doubles (Shalin Zulkifli-Siti Safiyah) and women’s Masters (Siti Safiyah) to emerge overall champions with a best-ever medal haul of five golds, three silvers and one bronze.
It surpassed the previous best achievement of 4-2-2 in the 2005 edition in Cyprus.
Team manager George was elated with the four-member side’s performance.
“The bowlers exceeded our expectations. We medalled in all the events except the women’s singles. And we also won the Triple Diamond Trophy (awarded to the team with the highest combined pinfalls after the completion of all the four events) for being the best team in the championships,” said George.
The next batch of bowlers to go into action are Rafiq Ismail, Muhd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Sin Li Jane and Esther Cheah. The quartet will be competing in the second World Singles Championships in Doha, Qatar, from Dec 2-9.