Rafiq and Co hope to emulate women’s feat during PBA tourneys
PETALING JAYA: National Sportsman of the Year Rafiq Ismail will return to United States in August for another shot at a maiden Professional Bowlers’ Association (PBA) Tour glory.
Unlike his previous stint in March, the 21-year-old will not be competing alone this time as teammates Ahmad Muaz Fishol, Timmy Tan and Tun Ameerul Hakim Tun Hasnul Azam are set to join him.
Rafiq and teammates will be taking part in four tournaments – PBA Bowlerstore.com Classic in Ohio (Aug 21-23) and the three-event PBA Summer Swing series, which comprises PBA Wolf Open, PBA Bear Open and PBA Illinois Open in Illinois (Aug 24-31).
The quartet are funding the trip on their own, emulating their women counterparts – Sin Li Jane, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, Shalin Zulkifli and Esther Cheah – who are now in the US for their three-week Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour stint.
They have signed up for the Lincoln Open, which begins on Thursday and USBC Queens (May 15-21).
The bowlers have taken upon themselves to secure top-level competition exposure after the US Tour was not included in the bowling squad’s tournament schedule due to a belt-tightening exercise by the National Sports Council (NSC).
Rafiq was the only bowler to be granted an exception by NSC for his excellent performance last year, which saw him winning one gold each at the Indonesia Asian Games and World Championships in Hong Kong.
He got the nod to play in seven tournaments but failed to impress. He returned with only one top-eight finish.
But Rafiq did show previously that he has what it takes to win on PBA Tour by coming close twice in 2017.
He finished third twice at the PBA Greater Jonesboro Open in Arkansas and World Bowling Tour (WBT) in Thailand, which is jointly sanctioned by the PBA Tour.
The recently-crowned Malaysian Open champion Muaz has also proven his credentials on two occasions.
In 2016, the 26-year-old came in third at the Qatar Open, an event jointly sanctioned by the PBA Tour, before registering a fifth placing finish at the PBA Lubbock Sports Open in Texas last year.
The men bowlers will hope to match their women’s teammates when it comes to winning on the US professional tour.
Li Jane and Siti Safiyah created history as the first Malaysian winners on PWBA Tour in June 2017 when they captured the Lincoln Open and Wichita Open titles.
Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) secretary-general Maradona Chok said Rafiq and Co have been given the blessing to compete in US.
“We allow them to go as it doesn’t affect their training schedule and the team preparations for the upcoming major tournaments,” said Maradona.
“The women’s team will be in Las Vegas for the World Championships in that week, so we’re fine with them going out for competitions.”