Disappointing end for Malaysian trios at world meet

PETALING JAYA: It was another miserable day for Malaysian bowlers after finishing out of the medals in the trios event at the World Championships in Las Vegas, United States.

The team of Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi and Natasha Roslan were just 43 pins away from making the top-four medal playoffs at the South Point Bowling Centre on Thursday.

They finished seventh with an 18-game total of 3,661 pinfalls.

Malaysia’s other trio of Shalin Zulkifli, Sin Li Jane and Esther Cheah struggled to 14th spot on 3,593.

It was a disappointing end for Malaysia as the two teams were very much in contention prior to the second block – being placed fifth and sixth on Wednesday.

The Americans – powered by their PWBA Tour stars of Shannon O’Keefe, Danielle McEwan and Kelly Kulick – topped the 56-team contest with a 3,820 total followed by Germany (3,785), Taiwan (3,721) and firstblock leaders Indonesia (3,704).

While the girls are at least putting up a fight, the Malaysian men are in danger of returning home empty-handed from the world meet for the third straight time if they don’t buck up in the team event.

Adrian Ang, Ahmad Muaz Fishol and Timmy Tan could only manage 14th placing in men’s trios with a 3,641 total while Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek-Alex Liew-Rafiq Ismail were 18th with 3,624 pinfalls.

This is the third straight event that they’ve failed to finish at least among the top 10.

Japan’s Daisuke Yoshida, Shogo Wada and Shusaku Asato shot a combined 3,868 total to come out tops in the 69-team competition. Joining them for tomorrow’s title showdown are Hong Kong (3,808), Finland (3,784) and Taiwan (3,757).

The Malaysian men last stood on the podium when Alex-Nur Aiman Khairuddin finished second in the doubles event at the 2010 edition in Munich.

Shalin and Li Jane’s silver in women’s doubles on Tuesday is the only medal Malaysia have won so far after the completion of three events – singles, doubles and trios.

Of the 12 national members, only Muaz, Siti Safiyah, Shalin and Li Jane are on course to qualifying for the top 24 Masters’ events.