Rafiq and Shalin to headline Sarawak Open
PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur SEA Games high-flyers Rafiq Ismail and Shalin Zulkifli will be hoping to extend their impressive form when they take on a star-studded field in the Sarawak Open bowling championships in Kuching this week.
The duo, who contributed six out of the seven gold medals at the Games recently, are among 10 national bowlers lining up for the mixed-field tournament that is being revived after 18 years.
The four-day event, with a prize money of RM100,000, will be held at the Megalanes Sarawak in Batu Kawah.
The other national team members are Alex Liew, Adrian Ang, Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Timmy Tan, Ahmad Muaz Fishol. The national women bowlers are Esther Cheah, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi and Natasha Roslan.
Two members of the victorious team event – Sin Li Jane and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman – are not taking part as they are in the United States for the season-ending Professional Women’s Bowling Association ( PWBA) Tour Championship.
The national bowlers will be up against some of the continent’s finest bowlers including former Asian Games gold medallists Tomokatsu Yamashita of Japan and Indonesia’s Ryan Lalisang and top women professionals Kim Seul-ki of South Korea and Futaba Imai of Japan.
“We couldn’t have ask for a better field to mark the return of the tournament,” said Amateur Tenpin Bowling Association of Sarawak vice-president Robert Lu.
“We have attracted over 200 participants made up by our very own national and youth squads, Japan national youths alongside other top names such as Ryan and Tomokatsu.”
The qualifying rounds will start on Wednesday to determine the top 40 qualifiers for the three contested categories – Open, Classified (graded) and Youth.
The Classified and Youth finals will take place on Wednesday while the Open showdown, which offers a winner’s purse of RM18,000 is slated for Saturday.