Malaysian bowlers in the mix for Finals in Munich

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia may finally hit the jackpot in the Brunswick Euro Challenge (BEC) if the strong showing of the national bowlers is anything to go by.

Eight of national chief coach Holloway Cheah’s charges have provisionally qualified for today’s Finals at the Dream Bowl Palace in Munich.

Those with the prospect of making the top 64 cut are Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, who sits second with her best six-game series of 1,558, followed by Rafiq Ismail (1,530, third), Adrian Ang (pic) (1,514, eighth), Timmy Tan (1,498, 14th), Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek (1,485, 19th), Shalin Zulkifli (1,479, 21st) and Sin Li Jane (1,438, 45th).

Li Jane is a winner of three EBT tournaments including the Brunswick Ballmaster Open in Helsinki, Finland, in January.

Natasha Roslan is in danger of missing the cut after finishing at 55th spot on 1,421.

She will bowl another six-game in one of the final three squads available to improve her position.

Alex Liew (1,402, 79th) and Ahmad Muaz Fishol (1,362, 123rd) will also be making their last-ditch bids to sneak into top 64.

Muaz was last year’s top performer in 18th place.

The €105,000 (RM505,000) EBT event has attracted a total of 386 bowlers from 39 countries.

The team have featured regularly since 2010 but no Malaysian has won the prestigious European Bowling Tour (EBT) event yet.

Adrian and Li Jane came agonisingly close by finishing second in the 2010 and 2015 editions, while Syafiq and former international Zulmazran Zulkifli were third in 2011 and 2010 respectively.